


"Then my father built an altar"--Remix

by AuroraMoon



Category: Smallville
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Friendship/Love, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Not Beta Read, Remix
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-02-26
Updated: 2015-05-27
Packaged: 2017-12-03 17:52:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 9
Words: 71,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/701011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AuroraMoon/pseuds/AuroraMoon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A remix of Rivkat's Smallville fanfiction. I liked it so much, and I thought it had some possible outcomes that Rivkat had not explored... so I decided to do a remix and explore those possibilities. Part of the credit for the story should go to Rivkat fully, as seeing I would had not done this story had it not been for her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. So it begins

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rivkat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rivkat/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Five Things That Never Happened to Lex Luthor](https://archiveofourown.org/works/40919) by [rivkat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rivkat/pseuds/rivkat). 



> “Then my Father built an altar”--remix  
>  Inspired by the “Father built an altar” segment of the story found here http://archiveofourown.org/works/40919#main where Lex remains a kid forever thanks to the meteorite storm.
> 
> So I'm just taking that part of the story, and re-mixing it up a little, as well as adding my own little twist to it and extending it. You should read the original by rivkat, her story is awesome! In a way this idea/story really belongs to her, I'm just borrowing it. I left some parts of the original story intact, but I'm changing a few other details for the re-mix. Just think of this as an alternate universe of the same story.... they do say that for every choice, there exists an alternate universe where the character take a different route.
> 
> A few warnings about this story though-- My version is also slightly angsty. What can I say, I like my Lex to be a woobie who needs some lovin' and cuddlin'. There's also some mild Lana bashing, although not too much. I'm just really making fun of her via Lex's viewpoint. Her characterization here is just mostly silly. Plus, did you know that the actress who plays Lana played Snow white in a movie before? So yeah I couldn't help but give her a silly Disney princess vibe. :P
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Smallville, or Superman. If I did I would be rich and have the TV show end on a much slashier note. :P  
> 

The last memory Lex remembered was seeing that helpless man strung up on a cross screaming for Lex to help him.

Lex had become frightened, and then ran deeper into the cornfield away from that man.... then there was a literal rain of fire, spreading destruction everywhere.

He wondered why he was even bothering running for his life. There was no way he was ever going to get out of this alive, now that it seemed that God himself was determined to strike him down where he was. And one couldn't even run from God, right?

He slowed down, panting loudly. He then dropped to his knees, looking up into the fire-filled sky.

He forced himself to smile weakly as he tried to find the positives in being dead soon. The only things he could think of is that in the afterlife he maybe wouldn't have to deal with the red hair he hated so much, and he would no longer be weak nor unhealthy.

The hail of fire stared raining down all around him, and he whimpered as he covered him face with his arms but it still didn't protect him as the heat blast engulfed him.

The third positive thing about being dead he had thought of, before being interrupted by the meteorites, was to sleep outside of time forever unburdened by Lionel Luthor's lofty exceptions of him that he could never seem to live up to. But now he realized that he was quickly changing his mind.

He realized that he really didn't want to die at all, no matter how many positives there could be for being dead. He wanted to live a very long time, even if it meant having to put up with Lionel Luthor for a whole lifetime.

But it seemed as God had plans for him even if Lex didn't want to die. So with that final thought, he reluctantly embraced oblivion.

~~~~~~~~~

He woke up in a sterile-looking white room with bright, glaring overhead lights. It smelled just like a hospital, which had him wrinkling his nose in distaste.

Lex was familiar with hospitals, having visited mom before in the past while she was at metropolis general hospital for her chemotherapy. Because of that, he had never been a big fan of them.... they reeked too much of medicines and cleaning products. There was also this other certain lingering smell that he couldn't identify that just made his skin crawl for some reason. That smell often came from the rooms of the recently decreased, so it probably had something to do with death.

No, he definitely did not like hospitals at all. But on the bright side, he hadn't died after all... Much to his relief. He looked around some more, looking for signs that his parents had been here.

He knew for sure that his mom would had been over here all the time, not willing to leave her precious son all alone after he had such a close shave with death. After all, Lillian Luthor was the one he could always count on to be there for him... his father, not so much.

He chuckled weakly at the thought that his dad was probably feeling so disappointed in him for being so weak right now. He coughed, and then frowned as he realized that his throat was very dry.

He looked around for a glass of water, and frowned again when he saw none. In fact the room was pretty much empty-- no plants, no chairs and the only thing on the table next to him was a jar of Vaseline. He stared at it, wondering why it was there.

He quickly disregarded it, as he called out for somebody. “Hello?” His voice came out in a rasp.

He then tried to get up, but discovered that he couldn't move at all. He had IVs running into the backs of his hands, taped in place, and he couldn't raise his arms when he tried. He could only move his hands but that was it.

He felt a strong surge of panic upon discovering this little fact. What if he ended up having to use a wheelchair for the rest of his life? What if he was one of those para-ple-gics or whatever they were called?

He struggled some more as he attempted to move, but to no avail. He then started sobbing after he gave up on that. If he was one of those people, then his father would really have no more use for him at all. After all, a Luthor wasn't supposed to be weak and crippled.

He looked down, and that was when he noticed a remote near his left hand. He let out a loud raspy breath of relief, now that he knew he had a way to summon somebody to his side.

With enormous effort, he was able to flop his hand towards the remote control, and after five tries he pushed a flat green square that said "Call Nurse" on it.

He waited 20 minutes, and just as he was about to give up on anybody ever coming by, a nurse finally came into the room.

“Now what are you...” The nurse looked annoyed, but her eyes widened as soon as she realized that Lex was awake and staring at her.

“Oh lord!” She exclaimed, and ran out of the room as if the hounds of hell was right after her.

Lex scowled, personally offended by her behavior. All he wanted was a glass of water, damn it!

At last, the nurse returned with another woman, this one wearing a doctor's coat. She hesitated just inside the door, then walked quickly to his bedside and started checking the equipment he could hear bleeping behind his head.

"Hello?" he squeaked.

"Hello, Lex," she said as if he were a very slow child. He resisted the impulse to roll his eyes. His mother always said that good behavior was important, never more so than with one's social inferiors.

"May I please have some water?" he asked, so hoarse that he was just mouthing the words by the end of his question.  
The doctor hesitated, then turned. "Gina, would you please get Lex some water?"

By the time the nurse was back with the water, the doctor had finished looking at whatever she was looking at. When Lex tilted his head up, the machines looked strange, too small and too flat for a real hospital room. He knew; he'd seen when his mom had to stay overnight for tests.

"What's the last thing you remember, Lex?" the doctor asked when he'd finished about six sips of water, all that he really felt that he could take. Now that she was close, he could see that the name "Dr.Kane" was sewn onto her white coat.

He frowned. "I was with my dad. We were going to take a helicopter ride to see a plant he just bought, outside the city. Can I see my mom?"

The doctor looked over his shoulder quickly, then back. Something's wrong, his father's voice whispered in his head. She's nervous. "I've called your father, Lex, but it may take some time for him to get here."  
"What happened?"

She swallowed. Lex screwed up his face in what he knew looked like a temper tantrum in the making. It worked as well as it did with any of his nannies - she started to talk. "You were caught in a freak meteor shower and, though you weren't struck directly, you went into a coma."

That certainly explained why there had been balls of fire raining down that dreadful day. But, since he'd already survived it, also pretty cool. "Meteors? Really?"  
He didn't really register the “coma” part fully though, until the doctor kept on speaking some more.

"Really," Dr. Kane confirmed, sounding a little shaky. "Lex, there are other things. Some of which your father will tell you, but - Somehow, as a result of the meteor shower, you lost your hair."

Lex didn't understand at first. It didn't make any sense. Kids don't just lose their hair, meteors or not.

He looked upwards, puzzling over what the heck this weird doctor was telling him. His eyes came upon a corner mirror that had one of those cameras hidden behind it, and he realized it was true. For in his reflection, he was truly bald.

"Is it gone forever?" Now that he knew, he could feel the air circulating over his naked head.

"We don't know." She paused, looking away from him again. "Now, this is difficult to understand, but - Oh dear. The year is 2001."  
He looked down at his body, mostly hidden under the hospital sheets except for his left arm.

"Is this your idea of a joke?" he asked flatly, “After all, if what you're saying is true, I should be all grown up and stuff. I'm still a little kid!”  
Dr. Kane was twisting her hands together, almost at Lex's eye level. "I'm sorry, Lex, I'm not. We don't exactly understand it either, but you ... didn't grow while you were in the coma. You've been this way for twelve years."

It was too much. "I want my mom!" he said, his voice small and even more babyish than was usual when he was scared.  
Dr. Kane flinched. "Your father will be here as soon as possible. In the meantime, just - try to stay calm. I'll send Gina in to keep you company until he comes." Without giving him a chance to ask more questions, she hurried out of the room.

Gina did come back, after a while, with a bunch of books for little kids and one she said she'd read to him that he demanded for himself. It was about a boy who thought he was nothing special but turned out to be a wizard. Lex thought it was okay, though he didn't really understand what was wrong with the boy's guardians when he was so clearly marked for destiny. When he finished it, he stared out the window, where a sunset was. The sky outside darkened, transitioning to night-time.

Fast, angry footsteps in the hallway alerted him that his father had arrived. The door swung open and he stalked in. His face was different. His hair was really different, longer and more dangerous-looking. Lex struggled to keep from cringing back into the bed. Dad despised that.

"Lex?" his father said and hurried to the side of the bed. Bending, he caught Lex up into an embrace so tight Lex could barely breathe. The IV lines pulled painfully at his skin. His father was shaking, and Lex realized that it was with tears. "Son," his father said, not as if he were a disappointment for once but as if he were a blessing.

"Dad," he snuffled and hugged back.

Eventually, his dad let him go, but still stood over him, just looking down with a smile so wide that it looked like it might crack his face. "When is Mom coming?" Lex asked, hopeful.  
His father stopped smiling. "Lex, I have some bad news...."

Lex's heart seized up at this. He's known for a long time that mom was sick, and she had still been going to chemotherapy last time he saw her. But. He had never really thought that she would die. As a kid, he still couldn't imagine life without mom. He had promised her that they would get it though together, and beat the disease away....because that's how it worked in those movies and inspirational speeches about beating cancer. He froze, as a horrible, irrational thought occurred to him.

What if it had been his fault that his mom died? After all, he had fallen into a deep sleep and hadn't been there for her like he had promised, and now she was dead.....

“No....” Lex whimpered, his eyes shone with moisture, and he turned his head away so that Lionel wouldn't see him cry.  
"I'm sorry, son." Lionel actually sounded grief-struck, and he could feel his father's warm hand lighting upon his right shoulder.

That tore down the last of Lex's barriers and he couldn't help but break down. “D-dad...” He bawled, “What are we going to do without her? We're supposed to be a family together...”  
Lionel then pulled Lex back into his arms, cradling him as he cried into his father's arms.  
Lex's surprised that Lionel was being so affectionate towards him...and in a way it was a very bitter pill for him to swallow. It was due to the fact that Lex had always sought out his father's affection and love, yet Lionel had always been so cold to him in the past. Yet all it took for Lionel to show some semblance of fatherly love towards Lex was Lillian's death and a freak meteor storm.  
In a way he supposed Lionel had been right that day when he lectured Lex about getting your heart's desire. You don't get everything you ever wanted in life without some sort of price being paid for it. He just wished he had known this was the sort of price he would have to pay for having his father's love...he could had retracted all of his wishes before it was too late.

He could easily put up with Lionel's aloofness if it would get his mom back... but now it's too late to do anything about it. All he could do is accept what was being given to him now.

Lionel held on to his son until he was worn out from all the crying, and he gently placed Lex back in bed. He then sat back on the edge of the bed, watching his son fall slowly asleep.

He grinned, his smile resembling a shark's smile more than that of a father who was relieved to have his son back in the land of the living.

He spoke aloud, not really caring if Lex was listening or not.

"Obviously, your return to the land of the living will require some explanation about why the son I had in 1980 is still nine years old. Probably best to put you forth as a by-blow from some years back, newly discovered. Set you up with tutors, private nurses - Smallville, yes, there's a research facility so we can continue looking into the secret of, ah, eternal youth, and plenty of privacy to keep you from attracting too much attention. It remains to be seen whether you'll start to grow again - a terrible irony if you didn't, I'd say. Eternal youth in the body of a grasshopper, that's not right. Not fit for a Luthor.”

He shook his head at the last part, as if truly dismayed that his son might stay a kid forever.

"Well," his dad said and rubbed his hands together, "there are so many plans to make. We'll have you up out of that bed and walking in no time. I'll hire a staff and have the mansion set up within a day. I have a business meeting this afternoon, so I will see you later tomorrow, in Smallville. It's good to have you back, son."

He didn't wait for Lex to say anything back, just marched out, a swing in his step that Lex had only seen previously when his father had destroyed someone else's company.

  
Lex didn't really understand much of what Lionel had said, and the parts he had understood seemed almost too impossible to be truly real. His eyes closed fully, as he fell back into slumber.

  
Things kept flickering in his head. Mom. Twelve years. Everyone at school, gone. Mom. He was going to be kept secret from now on, because he was a freak and a mystery. Tests, needles, to explore the mystery of "eternal youth" - Lex already knew it: like Sleeping Beauty or Rose Red, you could stay the same age forever as long as you lay there and everyone else moved and died around you.

  
He had a strange nightmare that night, where he was in a dark twisted fairytale. He dreamed he was a prince in a castle, and went riding outside. He came upon that guy on the cross, and he begged to be set free. Lex rode away instead, and the guy got angry, cursing him. The man somehow freed himself, and he aimed his hands at Lex. Hails of fire shot out his fingertips and rained down on Lex. The man turned into a grotesque monster, laughing wildly. The monster then kidnapped his mother... saying this was what he deserved for not trying to help him. Lex tried to rescue his mother like a good son should, but as he reached out to grab his mother, she moved out of reach. Mom only shook her head, looking at Lex with a disappointed expression. “You promised you would be there for me in my time of need. Why weren't you there for me? I died thanks to you!”

  She then started melting, as if her whole body was nothing but candle wax. When she was done melting, all that remained of her was a skeleton. Lex's stomach lurched at the sight, and he was startled awake.

  Lex trembled, as he mentally went over his nightmare. He curled up in his hospital bed, wondering if he was in hell. Maybe he was really dead, and this was God's way of punishing him for something he had done. Maybe he had been supposed to help that man back then... or something like that.  
He didn't cry again, although he did wish his father would come back and hold him until he fell asleep again. Needless to say he didn't get much sleep that night.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  

   Later, people arrived to put him in a wheelchair, then in a car, then a wheelchair again, up gray stone steps to the huge house. It hadn't been fully furnished when they came out to Smallville the other day - nine years ago, he had to remind himself.

  
Inside, it was full of rugs and dark furniture, like all the other houses except the ranch in Montana. Lex wished he'd asked to go there instead. His father was there, talking on the phone and giving orders to three other people. He shooed Lex upstairs, telling him to rest.

  
His room was like a hotel room. Nothing in it was his. There weren't even clothes for him until the next day. When the new nanny showed up, Lex asked if he could have his books and toys from Metropolis, and she looked at him curiously. That afternoon, his father dropped by the new schoolroom, with its strange small computer and its strange new maps, and warned him that he couldn't act as if he were the first Alexander J. Luthor. He was the second, so his books and toys weren't his. In fact, they'd been thrown out years ago.

  
   There were tests, and later, an operation to give him eyelashes and eyebrows that he was ordered not to pull at too hard. The servants stared a little less then, so he obeyed. He spent most of the night in the bathroom, reading or just staring. Without his hair, the titled walls felt hard and cold. After a few weeks of this, his father called him in for a talk.

  
"I know you're having a difficult time, son," he said, putting a hand on Lex's shoulder. Lex's arm hurt. They took a lot of blood, and they used that arm because it was easy and his veins were good, whatever that meant. His father smiled at him indulgently. It almost would have been better to be lectured. Lex said nothing.

  
"I've hired a woman to spend some time with you. Her name is Martha, Martha Kent. I've had some dealings with the Kents in the past, and I think she'll prove ... reliable. But you must be on your guard, Lex. Can you stick to the story? Can you believe it so that she believes it?"

  
Lex swallowed. "Yes, Dad."

  
  His father's hand squeezed, then fell from his shoulder. "Good. Some difficulty adjusting is only to be expected, if your mother died from terminal cancer a year ago and now you're just dealing with the same disease yourself. Martha will expect that. She'll be in charge of scheduling your tutors and doctors. She'll spend time with you when I'm away on business."

  
  That, Lex knew, was most of the time. He thought, resentfully, that the doctors were allowed much freer access to him than the tutors. They treated him like a freak, whispering to each other as if he couldn't hear or, worse, just outside the range of his hearing. The thought of having someone else to obey, set over all of the other adults, didn't make him feel any better.

  
  And now he was expected to stick with this stupid story about his father having an affair with some extremely ill woman some years back, and only having found out about his son when she died. Now that he literally was bald as a cancer patient only made it worse. He got those pitying stares from the residents in Smallville whenever he went out with his father, which grated on his nerves. Why couldn't his father had gone for something different? Even being an adopted kid from a foster home would be WAY better than playing the role of the littlest cancer patient.

  
But he supposed that in order to score points with the Smallville residents, they had to play on the sympathies of others, even if it was a total lie.

  
  He was prepared to dislike Martha Kent thoroughly, which made it even stranger when she smiled broadly at him and offered him a sugar cookie. She'd brought a batch over, even though Lex couldn't imagine that her kitchen was anywhere near as impressive as the mansion's.   
"Thank you," he said with polite mistrust, and watched his father pull her away for some final instructions. She sent him off to Tokyo with another sugar cookie and a tolerant smile, assuring him that she and Lex would do fine together. Lex's father grasped her hand between both of his as he said goodbye. Lex considered whether outright defiance or sullen noncompliance would get rid of her faster.

  
**********  
“Now it's time to start the next tests.” The scientist said, sounding very jolly. “Be sure to count down for me, okay?”

  
Lex didn't really share the same feeling, dreading what was going to come next.

  
Dr. Malhotra turned on the machine and gave him a range-finding shock.

  
“Ten.....nine....eight...” Lex gritted though the pain, mumbling out the numbers as he was told to do. The first time, he'd been so surprised by the pain that he'd actually jumped, and somehow broken a sensitive part of the equipment. Dr. Malhotra had cursed in rapid Hindi at the discovery, but he'd had a replacement chip by the end of the day and they'd just kept going.

  
He was ashamed to discover that he had teared up, and now his tears were running down his cheeks against his will. It was probably a good thing that his father wasn't here, otherwise he would be saying that Luthors didn't cry. That he should be ashamed of himself for showing weakness in front of others.

  
“What are you doing??” Martha's voice rang out, as she walked into the room. She took one look at Lex's tear-streaked face and then narrowed her eyes at Dr. Malhotra.

  
"We are testing the extent of nerve regeneration. It is most remarkable; the shocks would destroy sensitivity in a normal subject."

  
"Shocks?" she said, her eyes wide and horrified. "How long have you been doing this?"

  
"Well over a month," Dr. Malhotra said proudly, not realizing how horrible it sounded to Martha. "Preliminary results are quite provocative."

  
Mrs. Kent's eyes ran over Lex's body, held still because he was a Luthor and Luthors didn't show weakness. Her face became more serious, and her body shook as if she was restraining herself from committing some bodily harm.

  
"You're done for the day," she said abruptly.

  
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Kent," the doctor said, raising his finger to her as if she were an errant student, "but I have at least fifteen more -"

  
"Lionel Luthor put me in charge in his absence, and I'm telling you that you're done for the day. You're welcome to take it up with him when he returns, or you can take it up with the security guards!"

  
Martha seemed to be growing more angry by the minute, and she was almost screaming at the end of her sentence.

  
"But the tests require the subject -" Dr.Melhortra started to plead, but Martha cut him off.

  
"He's not a subject! He's a little boy in pain, and his name is Lex. Now, get out of here before I call the guards!" She was really screaming now.

  
Lex gaped as Dr. Melhotra began to pack up his equipment.

  
When the doctor was gone, he stared at Mrs. Kent, still standing around in her yellow pastel suit, one of the three she rotated for days at the mansion. She stared back, her angry shaking body returning back to normal.

  
"Are you all right?" she asked, now that she had calmed down.

  
"Sure," he said. He wasn't sure what he ought to say. If Dad got mad and they had to start all over, it wouldn't be good. But - "Thanks," he said, looking away so that he could wipe the tears off his face.  
He didn't notice the look of sadness Martha had in her eyes as she looked at Lex. However, She composed herself before he could look back up.  
“Lex... does your father know about this?”  
“Hmm-mm” Lex nodded, lying quite convincingly for the next part. “He says that I'm sick like my mom was, so we need all the tests to help me get better.”

Martha just frowned at that, as if she wasn't sure that she actually believed that.

  
A long silence stretched between them, as the two of them lingered around not quite sure what to do or what to say.

  
Lex started to fidget, and that's when Martha finally spoke. "We should find you something else to do," she said briskly.

  
"I have a math assignment," Lex offered and dared a look up.

  
Martha frowned, not at him. "That won't take you very long. Would you like to learn how to make an apple pie?"

  
That was how Lex found himself watching carefully as she measured, then let him measure his own ingredients. Mrs. Kent promised that no one had to see his pie if he didn't like the way it came out. She sliced all the apples, but she let him lay them in neat overlapping lines over the crust. The smell of cinnamon and baking apples made him hungry, and she made him a sandwich with roast beef left over from last night's dinner. For once, he managed to finish everything on his plate, even the annoying baby carrots that hadn't existed before his coma.

  
Lex had time to do his math as they waited in the kitchen for the pies to bake. He sat at the table, sneaking glances at Mrs. Kent from time to time. She was reading a paperback novel of her own and didn't seem to notice. Her hair wasn't the same shade of red as his mother's. He found that reassuring.

  
The pies were done just before Mrs. Kent was supposed to leave. They both smelled good, though hers was much neater than his. Somehow, she'd found a pint of vanilla ice cream, which she promised was excellent with apple pie.

  
She was just setting his plate down in front of him when a tall, dark-haired teenager barged into the kitchen. "Mom?" he said. "The butler guy said you were in here -" He caught sight of Lex, whose fist had clenched around his fork. "Hey!" He smiled broadly, not a hint of 'freak!' showing in his green eyes.

  
Lex gaped at him.

  
"Clark," Mrs. Kent said, smiling. "This is Lex. Lex, this is my son Clark."

  
"Hello," Lex said tentatively.

  
"Hi, Lex!" Clark said. "Hey, do I smell apple pie?"

  
"Two," Lex corrected.

  
Mrs. Kent just smiled more and went to get another plate. "Lex made his own pie," she said as she poured Clark a glass of milk, which he regarded with evident happiness rather than the distrust Lex always felt for it.

  
"You can have some. If you want," Lex offered, feeling awkward.

  
Clark looked up at his mother, and something grown-up flashed between them. "That sounds great." When Clark sat down to Lex's left, Lex could see that Clark's clothes were a little loose on him, and his face had a tight look that reminded him of his mother after she came back from the hospital the first time, like she was done being sick because she insisted on it, not because she was all better.  
Mrs. Kent gave Clark about a quarter of a pie and what looked like the rest of the ice cream. Clark bent over the food and started to eat.

  
"This is great, Lex," he bobbed up long enough to say, then returned to the serious work of inhaling the rest as Lex took much smaller bites of his own serving. Mrs. Kent was watching Clark with a mixture of pleasure and concern. Lex missed his mother so much that he had to stop eating.

  
"Are you all right, Lex?" Mrs. Kent asked, noticing that he'd pushed his plate away.

  
"Yes," he said, looking down at the runnels of melted ice cream working their way through the flakes of crust and bits of apple on his plate. He wished he had somewhere to go.

  
"Is there any more?" Clark asked, then flushed. "I mean, may I have another piece?"

  
"Sure," Lex said, forcing himself to smile, then looked at Mrs. Kent for permission. She winked at Lex and went to cut another slice.

  
"So mom's teaching you her baking secrets, huh?" Clark asked, leaning over conspiratorially. "She must really like you. You know, she won't let just anyone know her recipes."  
Lex's smile was a little easier this time. "She's a really good cook."

  
Clark grinned. Lex thought he'd never seen someone so happy. "I know it. I'm the luckiest kid in Smallville." His brow wrinkled. "Maybe not now that you're here. I mean, you get Mom and a whole castle."  
Lex shrugged, having no idea what to say to that.

  
"When you're done, Clark," Mrs. Kent said, putting another enormous slice of pie in front of him, "why don't you ask Lex to show you around the grounds? It's a beautiful place, and it would be a nice walk for both of you."

  
Clark grimaced, his rolled eyes inviting Lex in on the joke. "Yes, mom, I'll get some light exercise. You know, I have been doing my regular chores for a week now. I was - sick, a couple of weeks back," he explained to Lex, who nodded.

  
Mrs. Kent opened her mouth as if she wanted to say more, but didn't. Clark demolished his second serving as fast as he'd put away the first as Lex watched in fascination.

  
"Would you like to see the grounds?" he asked as Clark chased the last bits of crust around his plate. "The garden really is neat."  
"Sure," Clark said, taking his and Lex's plates over to the sink.

  
Leaving Mrs. Kent to her book, they went out the kitchen door and into the English garden that wound around the back of the house. "There's a folly and a topiary maze further back," Lex said stiffly. "We can go see it if you like."

  
"What parts do you like, Lex?" Clark asked, sounding truly interested.

  
Lex was about to respond, when a sudden pain spiked though his head. He grabbed his head in a futile attempt to stop the pain from occurring, but it only worsened.  
“Hey, are you alright?” Clark actually sounded worried, and he felt large warm hands holding him up as he had been about to fall.  
“I'm fine... it's just a bad headache...” Lex murmured.  
Green eyes looked down at him in concern. “Maybe we should go back inside...”  
Lex shook his head. “No, I'm fine. Just need a place to sit down for a little bit.”

  
Clark looked around, and saw a large stone shed in the distance. They moved inside, and sat on some empty wood boxes. The cool air here felt good on Lex's skin, and it was quiet around here.  
Lex thought to himself that he might had just found a good hiding spot, for all the times when he needed solitude and a good place to read.

  
Lex leaned over, letting his forehead rest on his knees as he tried to will his headache away. Clark was sitting awfully close, to the point where Lex could feel Clark's body heat radiating though his clothes. His large hands was rubbing Lex's back, as if that would make the headache go away.

  
Somehow, Lex didn't mind the contact at all. For some reason, it was all very comforting. And amazingly enough, the pain was actually going away.... so maybe there was something to the back-rub after all. Lex mentally made himself a promise to rope his father into hiring a masseuse for him... because after all he didn't want to be doped up on pills just to make the aches go away.

  
“Are you feeling better?” Clark asked. Lex just nodded.

  
"Kent!" An unfamiliar voice made Lex turn. Someone was standing by the door, outlined by the light of the sunset behind him.  
"Greg?" Clark asked, sounding befuddled. "What are you doing here?"  
"I told you to stay away from Lana."  
Clark stepped away from Lex, holding his hands up non-threateningly. "Greg, it's all right."

  
Lex watched as he edged towards Greg, who slammed the door behind himself without looking back. Greg's features were now visible. He was pale, black-clad, his face set in what looked like a permanent sneer.  
Suddenly, Greg was right in front of Clark. Lex blinked, wondering how he'd missed Greg's charge, as Greg drew his fist back and punched Clark.

  
Clark went flying back, crashing against the back stone wall of the shed. Lex gasped.

  
Clark got up, shaking his head as he stood. Greg stalked towards him, moving in a strange skittering gait. Lex felt as if he were secretly in a movie, since he didn't think that real people could move or hit like that. "You don't need to do this," Clark warned.

  
"But I want to," Greg said snottily and lashed out again, sending Clark through the stone wall to slam against a thick support pillar. Clark, and numerous chunks of concrete, fell to the floor as the roof moaned in protest. Greg smiled and held up his arms as if a crowd were watching.

  
Clark wasn't moving. Lex closed his eyes, gathering his courage, then bolted across the floor to where Clark lay. Close up, Lex could see that Clark's eyes were fluttering and he was breathing raggedly. "Clark!" he insisted as Greg - hopped? - towards them. "Get up!" He bent and tugged at Clark's arm.

  
Groaning, Clark pushed himself into a standing position. He put his body in between Lex and Greg. "There's a little kid here, Greg. Let him go and you and I can settle this."  
Greg looked at Lex and sneered. "Another evolutionary dead end. He can die with you."

  
Faster than Lex could see, Greg moved to stand beside the other leaning pillar. With a kick that made the entire shed shudder, he broke it in half. Greg leapt backwards, out of Lex's sight, as things overhead cracked. Clark pushed Lex onto the floor of the shed, covering Lex with his body. Lex shuddered as the roof groaned like a dying whale and collapsed on them. There was shrieking, thudding, crashing and crumpling. Clark's body shook as something huge hit his back.

  
It was dark beneath the rubble, and it took Lex a few moments to realize that he was still breathing. Clark's weight on him was nothing like being crushed. The dust was heavy in his nose and mouth, an asthma attack for sure, pre-meteors and coma. He coughed and spat.

  
"Clark?"  
"Lex?" Clark sounded as shocked as Lex felt.  
"How come we're not dead?"  
Clark paused for a while. "I'm gonna have to get back to you on that."

  
Then he took a deep breath and began to rise up above Lex, like Atlas. The world, or at least the building, moved with him. Bits of metal and rubble fell on Lex as the ruins shifted, and Lex pressed close to Clark's feet to shield himself.

  
"Come on," Clark urged. Lex clambered up the rubble. The sun had just gone below the horizon and the only real illumination was from the lights of the mansion, impossibly distant, and the half-full moon. Lex stood wobbly, feeling exposed. Clark joined him, then offered his hand as they picked their way over the remains of the shed onto level ground.

  
"Do you think he's still around?" Lex asked, as softly as he could manage. His voice was shaking, as were his legs. He was still hanging on to Clark, his fingers hurting with the strain. Clark didn't seem to notice.  
"I don't know. We've got to get you back to the house." The most direct route led through long grass, dry and silvery in the moonlight, taller than Lex. Clark hurried them into it. Lex wanted to resist, but he couldn't make himself go spaghetti-legs and he had the idea that Clark would just pick him up if he did.

  
Greg crashed down into the grass in front of them, hissing. His eyes were glittering black spots in his white face.

  
Clark dropped Lex's hand and charged forward, knocking Greg to one side and plowing a furrow through the high grass. Greg popped back up, snarling. Lex's stomach twisted and his fingers tingled. The rustling of the grass was loud in his ears, the stalks seemingly writhing with the energy of the fight.

  
Clark turned to Greg's new position. For the first time, his face was tight with anger. Greg looked delighted, the way Lex's father did when he'd made a CEO lose his temper.

  
Greg leapt, pushing Clark further away. Clark toppled. If Clark could survive a building falling on him, surely he could fight Greg, no matter how freaky the guy was. "Pussy," Greg said contemptuously. The sound of a boot striking flesh was loud enough to carry over the agitated grass and the high whine that he almost didn't recognize as his own. The grass was like the corn before, the dark squeezing him like a fist, his skin buzzing with terror.

  
Greg reappeared, smashing through more grass. "Huh," he said, staring at Lex. There was a smear of something, slick black in the moonlight, on his cheek. Lex fell back, trying to scrabble away.

  
Greg took a step towards Lex just as Clark appeared, surging up like a tidal wave, and hit Greg at waist height, sending them both back. There was a choked scream - whose, Lex couldn't tell - and then a distant crash. Lex stayed there, splayed and cold with fear, for what felt like forever before he made himself inch forward.

  
Just beyond where they'd been, the grass ended and a hole in the earth, like some kind of quarry, began. The earth at the lip was raw and broken where the fight had collapsed more soil into the chasm.  
Lex looked down. The drop had to be forty feet at least, almost straight down. At the bottom, he could see Clark's white face, facing up, on top of - something he didn't want to think about. Strange green lights shone in spots around the bodies.  
"Clark?" he yelled down. "Clark?"

  
Off to his left, the grade was slightly less steep. Lex forced himself to rise, then started down the slope, slowing his near-run with his hands, half-sliding, hitting his knee on an enormous twisted tree branch sticking out of the dirt. By the time he got to the bottom, his hands were bleeding and his pants were torn.  
"Clark?"

  
Lex could feel his heart thumping in his chest, so big and fast it was shaking his whole body. Even his eyesight fluttered in and out to its rhythm. He moved towards Clark, stepping on something dark and squishy.

  
Close now, he saw, with less surprise than he would have felt an hour ago, that Clark's pale skin was crawling with blackened veins, pulsing in tune with the glowing green rocks. He picked up Clark's arm and tried to drag him away, but he wasn't strong enough.

  
He stared at Clark's pain-contorted face, wondering if he could make it to the mansion in time to get help.

  
Stupid! Lex wanted to smack himself. Instead of wasting the time, he hurried over to the biggest glowing rock and heaved it as far as he could. Again and again, until his hands were solidly dark with blood and dirt and his arms hurt. His back screamed and his shoes were soaked through with the wet stuff that was part of Greg.  
Far enough away from Clark, they were just green rocks. Finally, nothing glowed but the moon and the stars.

Lex collapsed to his knees beside Clark. The black veins were already retreating from Clark's face and hands, and he looked as if he was breathing okay.  
"Clark?" he tried again. "Please, wake up." Tentatively, he patted Clark's shoulder.

Clark's eyes snapped open and Lex jerked his hand away. "Greg!"

"He's -" Lex considered - "not a problem any more."

Clark struggled to his feet. His clothes were torn and he was filthy, stray bits of grass sticking to him like the Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz.  
"What happened?"

  
"Uh, I'm not sure," he lied. "I think you got him."

  
Clark shook his head. "I -" He stopped, examined the blown-down grass around them, then looked carefully at Lex.

  
"We should get out of here," Lex said and turned towards the far side of the hole they were in. Looking up, the black earth surrounding them and blocking out the light, Lex felt as if he'd fallen into a rip in the world, not just some abandoned construction site.

  
At some point, Lex had twisted a muscle in his thigh. Clark didn't let him limp for more than a few steps before picking him up as if he were a baby. Lex didn't really mind; he slung an arm around Clark's neck, just in case, because Clark still looked shaken up. Clark staggered twice on the way up, grabbing at ordinary rocks to keep his balance, but carried Lex as if he were made of spun sugar.

  
"What were those rocks?" Lex asked when they were halfway to the main house.

  
Clark stopped and turned his head to stare at Lex. His eyes were wide and frightened. Lex looked back, trying not to look as scared as he felt.

  
"Meteor rocks," Clark said at last.

  
"From the meteor shower in 1989?" Lex asked. He thought he didn't sound too weird.

  
Clark nodded. "Lex," he said, still not moving, "sometimes, when kids hang around the meteor rocks, things - happen to them. They can - do stuff. Like Greg."  
Like me and you, Lex thought, and Clark nodded again as if he could hear Lex thinking.

  
Lex looked over Clark's shoulder. "I thought we were going to die. I thought you were -"

  
Clark let him down to his feet and got down on one knee, putting his hands on Lex's shoulders. "Shh, it's all right." He paused, his eyes downcast. "You saved my life. Those rocks - they hurt me. I think they would have killed me if I'd been alone."

  
Clark's pose reminded him of Warrior Angel after his first rescue. He resolved to collect all the meteor rocks he could and lock them in a safe place, so that nothing like that could happen again.  
Clark looked at him, measuring. "We'd better get back to the house. Mom's probably gone nuts by now."

  
Lex had no idea how long they'd been out, but if Mrs. Kent wasn't worried before she saw the two of them, she would be after. They were both filthy, and Lex could smell them - a combination of grass, meat, and something stomach-churning sweet.

  
"What are you going to tell her?" Lex asked as Clark picked him up again.

  
Clark looked puzzled, as if Lex had asked whether he liked to wear pink tutus. "The truth."

  
Lex had his doubts about whether she'd believe; she seemed so normal. But Clark probably knew his mom, and if he thought he wouldn't get punished for lying, Lex wasn't going to argue. "You saved my life, too," Lex said, considering. "I read that if you save a person's life, you're responsible for them forever."

  
"I guess we'll have to look out for each other from now on," Clark said at last, smiling, his teeth gleaming white against his dirty skin.

  
"I guess we will," Lex said, and smiled back.

To be continued in the next chapter.


	2. In which Lex Luthor meets other smallville residents

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lex Luthor meets other small-ville residents, and discovers that he gets Jealous easily, and doesn't like to share Clark with others.

with that, Lex's first friend was made in Smallville, although not his last.  
  
He never thought that a simple thing as having an actual friend would actually make Smallville more bearable for him, but somehow it did.

Lex thought that maybe it had to do with the fact that Clark didn't seem to pity him, or view him as a freak. More importantly, Clark was way older than him but he didn't look or talk down to him as if he were nothing but a brain-dead simpleton, like certain adults tended to do when speaking to little kids.

He absolutely HATED it when adults spoke to him in that certain tone of voice, as if they were speaking to a baby or something. Lionel's friend, a woman by the name Nell Potter, tended to do that with him a lot much to Lionel's amusement and Lex's annoyance.

Apparently, this woman was also the aunt of some girl named Lana Lang. Normally he wouldn't have cared about a thing like that but Nell Potter had somehow persuaded Lionel Luthor into doing a joint venture with Lana Lang despite the fact that Lana was still only in high school. Which was completely unheard of, as seeing Lionel certainly did not do something like that if he didn't know if it was going to be profitable AT ALL. Lionel wasn't the type that took a lot of risks.

There was also the fact that Clark had a thing for Lana.

So naturally he was curious about this girl who set out to have a serious business venture before she was even out of high school, and was the one who captured the heart of a man as extraordinary as Clark. So as a result she was the third person in Smallville that Lex actually bothered to hold a conversation with for any length of time. Needless to say, Lana Lang was interesting in a strange way.

On the surface she seemed like a sweet and normal girl, even with her exotic appearance. But when you got her talking you started to notice things about her that was a little... off. For example, she gave off this Disney princess vibe which didn't work too well in real life and all that pink she seemed to wear on a constant basis only served to make it worse.

What's more, She seemed to be “in love” with her parents' death and spoke reverently of 'that day' as if her parents had somehow been exalted into divinity by dying such a horrible death. Of course that was Lex's first impression of her and he had only known her for a very short time so he could be wrong.

In a way Lex could understand not wanting to let go, though. Lex missed his mother something horribly, and even though Lex knew that his mother actually died a very long time ago it still felt like she had suddenly vanished from his life only a few weeks ago. He supposed that was the sort of thing that one might normally feel when you just woke up from a 12-year-long coma. He would do anything at this very moment to hear his mother's voice again.

Lana was still talking about her parents, as she showed him around the Talon, which still hadn't been turned into a coffee shop yet. It was dusty too, with white sheets covering everything. She was saying something about how her parents had met here, and how she had a special attraction to this place because of it.

Lionel had asked Lana to take Lex out on a tour around Smallville, while he spent some time with Nell Potter... which is why Lex was here now, instead of at home. Although he had no idea why Lana had chosen to show him around the run-down Talon instead of showing him some of Smallville's sights.

Lana was STILL talking about herself... which had been interesting at first but now was starting to bore him.

Lex had been debating with himself on if it would be too rude to ask Lana outright if she could sound more self-absorbed, when Clark appeared.

Relived at the interruption, Lex asked Clark what he was doing here.

Clark looked sheepish and replied that he had been just passing by when he heard both Lex and Lana in the Talon. He had been curious to as what they had been doing there, as he thought that the Talon was supposed to be closed permanently. After all, it was no longer a functional movie theater.

Lana then excitedly told Clark about her plans to turn the Talon into a coffee shop, with help from Lionel Luthor.

Clark just looked puzzled, probably wondering why Lionel was helping her out as seeing he didn't seem like the type to help people. However his obvious puzzlement cleared up once Lex told Clark about Lionel wanting to be alone with Nell Potter today. He probably thought that Lionel was doing it to win Nell's affections.

Clark then grinned, teasing Lex about the fact that he might end up having Nell Potter for a mother one day. Lex just shrugged at that part, not sure if he liked that idea at all.

Lana just looked quizzical at this, as if she couldn't really picture her aunt and Lionel together. She then thankfully changed the topic, talking about how she should set up the Talon Coffee house.

The three of them then chatted a little bit about the Talon's history, and eventually the topic turned back to Lana's parents, when Lana had sighed wistfully and wondered if her parents would be proud of her today for preserving a piece of Smallville's history.

That was when Lex blurted out how his mother had always been proud of him no matter what, and that he still missed her.

Lana turned her head to look at him, and asked: “When did your mother die, Alex?”

Clark looked curious about this too as well, So Lex decided he'd give a half-truth about it while still following Lionel's story.

“It happened a long time ago... but it still feels like it happened only weeks ago to me. She was very sick, you know. She had this rare cancer thing that was very hard to treat so we'd go to the hospital every month. But then it turned into a weekly thing... and eventually she had to stay at the hospital full-time. I... I wasn't there when she died, and I didn't even get to go to her funeral even though I wanted to. I had become sick too at that point you see... so I couldn't be there for her like I wanted to. I was in a separate hospital at the time and I was so sick that I was sleeping all the time then.”  
  
Lana looked as if she was fully absorbed in that story, and she sighed loudly as if she had just finished reading a very satisfying book. It probably was the type of story that appealed to the inner drama queen in her. She put a hand on Lex's back in what was meant to be a comforting manner.

“Oh, Alex. That must had been so difficult to go though something like that. Did you get to visit her grave afterward, at least?”

Lex shook his head. “You can just call me Lex, you know. And no, I didn't get to. She was cremated, so she's on a family member's fireplace mantle somewhere.” He then smiled, although it didn't quite reach his eyes. “But at least something good came out of it... I may have lost a mother but I gained a father. That counts for something doesn't it?”

Lana shook her head, as if she couldn't fathom that Lex's family wouldn't let him visit her afterward. She even went as far to say so, and then rambled on about how visiting her parents graves always comforted her, and that Lex's family should have let him do the same thing...

It got to the point where Lex was getting tired of listening to her talk about herself. Lex thought to himself that Lana was certainly very self-absorbed even if she didn't mean to be.

Lex made some feeble excuse about how it was getting late and how hungry he was. He hoped that Lana would get the hint, and take him back home.

That was when Clark made the offer to take Lex back to Clark's house for some lunch before heading back home.

Lex looked up at Clark doubtfully. “But it's your mom's day off from the castle. I don't think she would want to cook something for me.”

Clark gave him that huge smile, and told him that Martha wasn't the type who would mind. Besides, he wanted to show Lex where he lived.

Lex then simply nodded. He was curious about where Clark and Martha lived, after all.

Clark then looked at Lana, and asked her if she would mind if he took over as tour guide from now on. Lana smiled, and shook her head. “Sure, I don't mind. I'll just call Aunt Nell and Mr. Luthor to let them know that he's with you.”

With that, Lex left the Talon with Clark.

Lex frowned when he saw that Clark didn’t have any transportation at all. “Isn't it going to take us an awfully long time to walk towards your home?” He wondered.

 

Clark then looked sheepish. “You know how I'm... different, right? After all, you saw what I could do that one night with Greg.”

 

Lex nodded. Clark then smiled slightly. “let's just I know a fast way home. But I'd have to carry you.... if you don't mind?”

 

Lex normally didn't like being carried as if he was nothing but a helpless toddler. After all, he was 9 years old already, and would had been like 20 years old physically if it hadn't been for that meteor storm. So he's a big boy, and was able to walk on his own for long distances. However, his legs were feeling awfully sore from all the walking around he did with Lana.

 

So Lex just sighed, and simply nodded. “Sure, I don't mind... if it'll help speed up things.”

 

Clark gave him that smile again, the one that made his insides feel weird. He then moved closer towards Clark and let himself be picked up.

 

The minute he wrapped his arms around Clark's neck, the world around them suddenly blurred. Lex's stomach felt like it was lurching, as if he was in a moving elevator that moved faster than normal.

 

In an instant, they were standing in front of a yellow house. Lex blinked, and stared at Clark in amazement. Clark grinned sheepishly, and then explained: “I can run really fast.”

 

'No kidding!' Lex thought, still amazed at how they had managed to get here from the Talon in just less than 5 seconds. He didn't notice that Clark hadn't still put him down at all, and was still holding him closely as if he was just a tiny kid that weighted nothing. Well, not until Clark had moved towards the farmhouse.

 

Lex was about to protest, saying that he could walk but he was interrupted by somebody coming out.

 

“Clark, where have you been? You were supposed to help me with the tractor.” The blonde man replied, and that was when he noticed Lex. He frowned slightly, as if he suspected who he might be. “And who's the kid?”

 

Clark sighed. “I'm sorry, dad. I forgot.” He then looked at Lex as he said the next part, “Lex, this is my dad Johnathan Kent. Dad, this is Lex Luthor. You know, the kid that Mom's been taking care of.”

 

Johnathan simply nodded, his suspicions confirmed. “I see. But what is he doing with you? I'm not sure that Lionel Luthor would agree to having his terminally ill son wander outside like this. After all, I hear that he's been keeping his son cooped up at the mansion.”  
  
Lex then answered, “Actually, my dad wanted to spend some time with Nell so he had Lana take me outside for a long tour of Smallville. He also thought it would do me some good to get some sunshine. Clark just took over from there.”

 

Jonathan’s eyebrows rose, obviously imaging what Lionel Luthor was doing with Nell. He looked slack-jawed for a few seconds, as if he couldn't picture that ever happening, but then he smiled. “Oh I see. Well, then in that case... why don't you come inside? I'm sure Martha would love having you over for supper tonight if you aren't expected back home by then.”

 

Clark grinned, and with that they all went inside.  
  
There was the obligatory greetings all around, and with that Clark took him on a tour of the house. Lex's initial impression of the house was that it was kind of dilapidated and had very tiny rooms compared to the castle.  
  
However strangely enough there was something about this house that he liked very much. There was a warmth to the house, despite the fact that it was something that most people would call a fixer-upper.

He could see why Clark and Martha liked living here so much.

 

Lex was sitting on Clark's tiny bed, as Clark was giving him a tour of his bedroom. “As you can see, it's not much but I like it. I actually don't spend much time up here expect to do my homework and stuff like that, though.”

 

He could hear Jonathan talking to Martha downstairs in the kitchen, and he could make out the name “Nell”. Lex figured that they were probably gossiping about his dad's interest in Nell.

 

Lex frowned. He then asked Clark: “Gee, you can hear almost everything that goes in this house. Doesn't it get difficult to get some sleep or privacy?”

 

Clark chuckled. “Not really. After a while you just learn how to tune things out. But I do agree that it's difficult to get some privacy in this house... that's why I sometimes sleep in the fortress.”

 

Lex's curiosity was perked. “You have a fortress? Can I see it?”  
That resulted in a tour of the barn. The upstairs platform was really just another bedroom for a teenage boy, complete with a red dirty couch instead of a bed. Lex was slightly disappointed that it wasn't a real fortress, but it was still interesting regardless.

 

There was a telescope, and interestingly enough it seemed to be directed at Nell and Lana's house. Lex had chuckled, pointing this out. He grinned when Clark had gotten red in the face, stammering that it wasn't what it looked like.  
  
“Hey, it's cool. I guess if I had a girl who I really liked, I would be doing the same thing.... I guess?” Lex smiled. “So, do you and Lana ever spend time up here away from the parents?”

 

Clark just ducked his head at this bashfully, which made Lex smile again. “Actually, Lana and I aren't together.... we're just friends right now.”

 

Lex tilted his head, looking at Clark quizzically. He might be just a kid, but he still noticed how amazingly handsome Clark was. And Lana was a pretty girl as well, so they would had looked good together. So why weren't they together?

 

Clark noticed Lex's expression, and then explained, “Lana has a boyfriend named Whitney, you see. He plays for the Smallville Crows football team. Lana also happens to be the head cheerleader.”

 

Ah, that did explain it. In a strange way, Lex was somehow relieved that Clark and Lana wasn't together at all. After all, that meant that Lex could get to spend time with Clark without worrying that Clark might ditch Lex to spend time with Lana. Man, that sounded so selfish of him when he thought about it like that... not that he cared what other people thought of him.

 

“oh, I see.... too bad, you two would had looked good together.” Lex smiled, not really meaning it.

 

Clark smiled back. They then changed the subject, talking about other things like what Clark normally did at school.

 

Clark told him all about Chloe and Pete, who were apparently his two best friends in Smallville. Lex wasn't happy about that part, as seeing he thought that they might be competition in a way. Lex didn't really have that many friends in Smallville, and there wasn't that many kids his age around. So naturally Lex had to ensure that he would be friends with Clark for a long time, even if he had to befriend Pete and Chloe. They would object to having a 9-year-old hang out with them as seeing that would probably cramp their style, so he had to do something about that.

 

“You know, Lana gave me a tour of Smallville but she didn't give me a tour inside the school where you go. I would be very interested to see inside it one day. Maybe you could give me that tour? Introduce me to Chloe too, as she sounds interesting.” Lex replied, almost too casually.

 

Clark grinned. “Sure, I could give you a tour after school tomorrow. If you're not too busy by then, that is.”  
  
Lex chuckled. “Pfft. I'm home-schooled most of the time, and the rest of the time I just have the doctors constantly doing tests on me when it's not time for me to eat or sleep. It's not like I lead such an exciting and busy lifestyle. Of course my schedule is open for you!”

 

Clark frowned at this. “The doctors do that to you all the time? Doesn't it bother you that they do that so much? I don't know much about cancer, but somehow that doesn't seem normal.”

 

Lex's smile faded. _Great, time for him to lie about having cancer some more._

 

“Well.... you're right that they don't typically do that for things like cancer. But you know my dad, he likes to go overboard when it comes to doing things. Like with building the castle a while back. He's just doing everything he can to keep me alive, that's all. Sure, it does bother me at times but I understand why it has to be done.”

 

Clark nodded, as if this made sense to him completely. But he was still frowning. “Yeah.... but my mom told me and my dad about something one of the doctors did a while back... something to do with electroshock therapy? They don't really use that to treat cancer from what I've heard.”

 

Lex sighed. “Yes, my father was very shocked when he heard about that... the doctor has been removed from the staff and he won't be doing it again.” At least, not at the castle where Martha and others who didn't know about Lex's real condition could catch him doing it. Dr. Malthroa was still working for Lionel Luthor at a place called Level 3 or something like that. Lionel sometimes took him there to resume the treatments.

 

Clark shook his head. “I just can't believe that your father didn't check his background or something. Surely, after that incident he made sure to check into all those doctors' backgrounds... and to ensure what they were doing were legal? I'm sorry for asking about this, but those doctors of yours just bothers me for some reason.”

 

Lex was just so sick of lying to Clark, not especially when he looked so worried for Lex's safety. He figured it would be time for partial truths to come out.

 

“I suppose that's because they're more like scientists than actual doctors.”

 

At Clark's confused look, Lex explained some more. “You see...the illness I have isn't a normal one. You know how you spoke about the meteors affecting kids in Smallville? Let's just say I was affected by the meteorites too, although not in the typical way like the other meteorite-affected kids. The scientists are here to study me as much as they are there to cure me.”

 

Clark became more visibly distressed by this, for some reason. Lex tried to reassure him. “Hey, it's okay. I'm pretty sure I won't die. Not with all those scientists looking out for me!”

 

Lex went over to hug Clark in an attempt to cheer him up, and Clark held on as if Lex was about to disappear any minute. Lex was pulled closer, so much that he wound up having to sit on Clark's lap. Not that he minded, because now he was enveloped in Clark's strong, warm arms. It was just so comforting and relaxing at the same time.

 

There was this pleasant smell coming off Clark, and Lex couldn't help but turn his head so that he was nuzzling Clark's neck. He took a strong whiff, trying to determine what Clark smelled like. He smelled earthy, of hay and something like apples, although not quite like it.

 

He lifted his head, and it was then he realized that their heads were awfully close together, almost like they were about to have a make out session like he saw on those teenage TV shows and movies. Lex smiled, amused at that notion. Two boys couldn't be together like that, right? Plus, he was still at that stage where he thought kissing girls were gross, so why was kissing boys any different...? His stomach flipped pleasantly at the thought, though.

 

Clark had apparently been thinking the same thing since there was a myriad of emotions flickering across his face, and he blushed bright red.

 

Lex suddenly found himself out of Clark's lap, back on the ratty red sofa. Clark was now standing a few feet away from Lex, looking flustered and guilty for some reason.

 

Lex looked at him strangely, wondering what was up with Clark. He was about to ask, when Martha's voice floated up to them. “It's time for dinner!”  
  
Clark looked relieved at the interruption, and he flashed a bright smile at Lex. “Well, you heard my mom. Let's go!”

 

The dinner itself was fairly pleasant, with everyone chatting about random things, and also gossiping slightly.

 

“So,” Martha said, smiling at Lex, “Jonathan tells me that Nell Potter has been spending a lot of time with your father.”

 

Lex simply nodded. Why the heck was everyone so interested in that little fact? Would it be a big deal if Nell turned out to be his dad's girlfriend? Because Lex certainly didn't care about that at all! He certainly didn't care if Nell ended up marrying Lionel and becoming his step-mom, even if he didn't like her at all.....

 

“Dad said that she had been a good friend of his for a long time... he said he wanted to renew their friendship now that he was living here.” Lex replied, sounding awfully glum without meaning to. “I guess he has to make new friends of his own too just like me, now that he moved out here because of me.”  
  
Martha's smile faded slightly at Lex's tone. “Well... it was a good thing he did, because it seems that the fresh food and air has been doing you some good. Why, you seem to be growing awfully fast the past few weeks. I would say that Lionel made a good decision moving out here for your health.”  
  
Lex looked up at Martha with a doubtful expression. “I have?”  
  
Martha nodded. “Sure. Jonathan, you should have seen Lex a few weeks ago. He was small for a 9 year old and actually looked younger than his actual age because of his size. Looking at him now you wouldn't be able to tell that he was 9 years old anymore. In fact, he looks like he's 11 now... don't you think? Amazing what a proper amount of food and fresh air will do.”

 

Lex blinked at this, surprised but pleased. He certainly didn't mind looking a few years older.  
  
Jonathan looked at Lex, and smiled. “Well, he's a growing boy after all. But he needs to eat everything on his plate if he wants to grow up big and healthy. Right, Lex?”  
  


Lex simply nodded at this, feeling vaguely annoyed at the patronizing tone and words. However Jonathan’s behavior seemed normal for most adults, so he let it slide.  
  


He looked over at Clark, who seemed to be inhaling everything on his plate. He wondered if he ate in the same way as Clark did... if he would gain that perfect bodybuilder look too sometimes in the future. He highly doubted it though. Some people just had naturally good looks, and he wasn't one of those people. With his luck he would just became fat.... then he'd be just a bald fat boy.

 

Come to think of it, how the heck did Clark not get fat eating so much? But Lex supposed that being such a powerful meteor mutant like Clark would constantly burn up fat on a regular basis, so maybe Clark needed to eat a lot in order to stay healthy.

 

His train of thought was interrupted by something Martha said. “Um, sorry, what?”

 

“I was asking you what time your father expected you back. It's 7pm already, after all.”  
  


“Oh... I don't know, my father never told me what time he expected me back. But I can leave right away after we're done eating.”

 

Clark spoke up at this. “I'll escort him back to his home. Don't worry about it, mom.”  
  
Martha smiled. “Alright, then. So did you enjoy your tour around Smallville, Lex?”  
  
Lex just shrugged. “It was okay. Actually, Lana didn't really show me around Smallville... she really just took me to the Talon and that was it. And Clark took me straight here. He said he'd show me where he goes to school to make up for it.”

 

Martha frowned. “The Talon? But it's been closed for a while. Why would she take you there?”

 

Lex then told her all about Lana's plans to reopen it as a coffee shop.

 

Martha just smiled at this, although her eyes pretty much gave away what she really thought of this. Clearly, she didn't think that plan was going to work. “I have to say she's certainly very ambitious. It's a very large undertaking for a single person to take on by herself.”

 

Lex smiled. “Well she can do it with Lionel Luthor's money backing her up. The question of course is, can she turn it into something profitable?”

 

Jonathan frowned at this. “humph. Lionel's only doing it so that he can get into Nell's....” He looked at both Clark and Lex, and then back at his wife. “....er, good graces. As soon as he gets bored of Nell, he'll probably just pull it from under Lana and sell it instead. That poor girl, she's going to be so crushed when that happens.”

 

Lex hadn't really thought of it like that, but that did make sense. That would be something his father would do, alright.

_______________________________________________________  
  
Clark super-speeded him all the way home and Lex had to say that the second time around was far more fun now that he was used to it. Riding the Clark express was far more fun than riding in one of Dad's fast fancy cars, in his opinion.

 

He was still giddy from the experience as he walked back into the castle, and that happy feeling still didn't fade when he saw that his father was standing there in the hallway waiting for him.  
  
“So, I hear that you took a detour towards The Kent Farm. How was it?” Lionel asked.

 

Lex smiled, not even bothering to mask his happiness. “It was okay. I had more fun there than I did with Lana. Did you know that Lana didn't really take me all over Smallville at all? She just took me to the Talon and that was it. And to make it worse she wouldn't talk about anything expect herself! I thought I was going to die of boredom until Clark showed up. Do I really have to spend time with Lana? Because I'd rather spend time at the Kent Farm from now on.”  
  
Lionel chucked. “Well, you have to get along with Lana, regardless of how bored you get around her. After all, I'm entering into a business relationship with the Langs and I need us to cultivate a close relationship with both of them. And regarding your visit to the Kent farm, did you notice anything.... unusual?”

 

Lex looked puzzled at this. “Unusual how?”  
  
“I'm sure that you've noticed that Smallville is not your avenge town... that strange things tends to occur around here?” Lionel replied, almost smug with himself.  
  
Lex's good mood vanished. Did this mean that Lionel knew about Clark? What did Lionel want with the Kents?  
  
“Yeah I've noticed some weird stuff. But what does this have to do with the Kents?” Lex wondered.  
  
“ I've noticed that the Kents seem to be hiding something... and I suspect it has to do with their son.” Lionel answered, watching Lex's face carefully.  
  
“Clark seems perfectly normal to me, far as I can tell.” Lex lied, and then thought to distract Lionel with something else. “The only freak around there today was me. Speaking of which, Mrs. Kent noticed that I seemed to be going though a growth spurt over the past three weeks. She even said that I looked like I was 11 years old now.”

 

The diversionary tactic seemed to work, as Lionel was now frowning. His father looked at him up and down, and then he nodded. “yes... you seem to be going though a growth spurt. I wonder....” he trailed off, lost in thought.  
  
Lex took the chance to flee upstairs. “I'm tired, so can we talk about it tomorrow? See ya!”

\-------------------------------------------------------  
  
Lex should have known that Lionel wouldn't have forgotten about it because during the next week he caught Lionel looking at him with a weird expression on his face, as if he was carefully cataloging everything about Lex that was changing.

 

Even Martha had noticed Lionel's strange behavior, and had asked Lex about it. Lex fibbed that both of them had a little bit of scare earlier when he fainted (which happened when Martha wasn't around, of course), and that Lionel was simply worried about him.

 

This seemed to satisfy Martha, as seeing she was the sort of woman who couldn't ever imagine a father being worried about something else besides his son's safety. Even if that father was Lionel Luthor.

 

Lionel had also taken to having the doctors measure Lex's height every day, and one day he completely freaked out when his fears were confirmed. He summoned all of the doctors at dawn, before the sun had even come up.

 

Lionel was prowling around the room while the scientists were working with Lex. (Luthors didn't pace around, such a thing was beneath them). “Is there a reason why my son seems to be growing at a rapid pace?”  
  
“Let's not panic. This could be merely a normal growth spurt. After all, there have been cases of nine-year-olds hitting puberty before they became teenagers.” A woman who Lex didn't recognize, replied. She looked annoyed at having been summoned to the Luthor mansion so early in the morning over such a trivial thing... at least in her opinion.

 

Lionel sneered at her. “And suppose you're wrong? At the pace he's going at, he could turn into an old man before the year is over! You have to remember, there is nothing usual or normal about my son right now. I do hope you're right... but I need a backup plan in case my worst fears are confirmed.”  
  


Well, that certainly explained why his dad was so freaked out. Lex Luthor had never really thought about how weird his growth might had looked to others... he had thought he was just growing up normally, which had been a relief for him as it meant that he was just a normal kid growing up despite the sleeping beauty incident.  
  
But now he was starting to get creeped out at the thought of himself aging so fast that he might be reduced to nothing but a wrinkly bag of bones, just like Dorian Gray in that one story. He sincerely hoped that his dad was wrong on this one, because he had no desire to age 100 years in only one year.

 

Lionel was fuming. “I want the secret to immortality..... I won't have it be snatched out of my reach like this! You must find a way to slow down his aging or stop it entirely at any costs!”

 

Lex looked up at his father's angry face. Ah, and so another part of the puzzle fell into place. He had hoped that a part of Lionel had sincerely cared for Lex and only wanted the best for his well-being. But no, he only saw Lex as a means to get what he wanted. Normally Lex's purpose of existence in Lionel's eyes, was to be an heir to the Luthor empire and nothing more. But it seemed that Lionel wanted more than that from Lex now. After all, if Lionel found a way to become immortal, then he would no longer need Lex or any other heirs. At the very least, he might keep Lex around for the company after he got tired of people dying of old age all around him... but he would no longer need Lex as much anymore. Lex mulled that thought over, not sure if that was such a good thing or a bad thing.

 

There was a timid knock at the door, and Martha's head popped in. “Lex, are you awake so soon in the morning already? Oh, what's going on?”

 

The rest of her came into the room, as she took in the frantic scene of scientists and doctors running around doing their best to please Lionel much as possible.

 

“Martha. What are you doing here so early in the morning?” Lionel wondered, looking his best to look innocent and kind.

 

“I always come here early to make a hearty breakfast for you and Alexander so that I can have it all ready by 8am. You know that. And I heard noises, and thought maybe he was up earlier than normal. Now, what's going on?” Martha frowned, as she looked around the room.  
  


Lionel seemed at a loss at what to say, so Lex covered for him.

 

“You know how sometimes my head or some other part of my body starts hurting really badly for no good reason, and then goes away just as fast?” Lex replied, telling a partial truth. For the past month, he had been experiencing weird pains and aches... a few of them Martha had witnessed as well. Lex even had those white stretch marks over some parts of his body... which led Martha to suggest that maybe it was a case of literal growing pains, since how Lex seemed to be hitting a large growth spurt early in his life.

 

These moments sometimes led Martha to reminisce about Clark's growth period when he had been around Lex's age, much to Clark's embarrassment. Lex had been amused at the mental image of a runty, skinny boy practically growing into a tall muscular boy overnight. In a way it also made him feel less freakish, knowing that Clark had gone though something similar. It also gave him hope that maybe he'd be just as good looking later on in life, although he also doubted that would happen.

 

Martha simply nodded. “Yes, of course. But what does that have to do with doctors swarming around in your room so early in the morning?”

  
“Well, one of those moments occurred this morning... and it lasted longer this time, and the pain was much more intense this time around. My father got paranoid that maybe what you refereed to as my growing pains had nothing to do with me growing up. He simply wanted to make sure that it wasn't a serious symptom of my illness.” Lex lied smoothly.  
  


“Oh no.” Martha looked sympathetic. “You're fine now though?”  
  


Lex risked a glance at Lionel, who looked impressed that Lex could think so quickly on his feet.  
  
“Yes, of course. Although now that it passed, I'm sorta annoyed at all this fuss. I'd like to sleep again, but my dad won't let me. It's 5:30 am for pete's sake!It's way too early for this sort of thing!” Lex whined, sounding like a typical spoiled little boy.

 

That helped lighten the tense atmosphere in the room, as some of the adults chuckled at Lex's childish outburst.  
Martha smiled, and shook her head. She then looked at Lionel and said: “Well, your son does have a point. If he has to go though all this, at least give him breakfast first. A young boy's got to keep his strength up if he has to go though so many tests every day, wouldn't you say?”

 

Lionel looked like he wanted to object to that, but thought better of it. “Certainly. The tests can wait later. Lex, go with Martha right now. I'll be talking with the doctors up here.”

 

Lex actually did want to go back to sleep, but getting away from those scientists to eat breakfast did sound good so he didn't object.

 

He walked out with Martha, and breathed a sigh of relief while they were safely out of eyesight.  
  
Martha shook her head again. “Lex, do you want me to talk to your father about this later? I know your father means well, and wants to keep you healthy... but I'm starting to think he might be overdoing it. I think all of this is actually more stressful for you than it is for him.”

 

Lex looked up at Martha, and fought the urge to smile. Instead, he looked bored and tried to behave as a Luthor. “I'm fine, really. Although it would be nice if I didn't have to see the doctors every day. Once a week would be fine with me. You know those doctors, they're always so pessimistic. Always giving people a week to live and it turns out that people end up living for 10 years instead. I don't want to have to listen to such depressing drivel everyday.”  
  
Martha frowned. “You don't think the doctors are taking advantage of your father's money, do you?”  
  
Lex looked puzzled. “whatever do you mean by that?”  
  
Martha shrugged as the two of them moved down to the kitchen, “ I know this isn't probably a good thing to tell a child like you. But I suppose you have to learn this eventually, now that you're growing up in a family with money. You see, there are a few people out there who are complete frauds no matter what kind of field they work in. They often take advantage of people with money, and leech them dry. That's why you have to be really careful of who you give your money to. You have to make sure that they're the real deal, and not one of those frauds who do nothing expect get paid for each useless pill they prescribe to clueless people.”

 

Lex was amused at the notion of Martha labeling the best scientists in the world a bunch of complete frauds. Lex thought to himself that Lionel would really LOVE the idea that Martha thought him a clueless rich man who couldn't tell apart a genuine doctor-slash-scienist and a complete fraud. He would love to be there to see the look on Lionel's face when Martha confronted him about hiring phony doctors. Oh yeah, he had to see this play out.

 

Lex looked up at Martha with an innocent expression. “Gee, I wouldn't know about that sort of thing. I just do whatever Lionel and the doctors tell me to do. You might be right though. You should definitely talk to Lionel about that.”

 

They were in the kitchen now, so Lex sat down while Martha busied herself with making breakfast as seeing the cook wasn't coming in until noon.  
  
“You would tell me and Lionel if the doctors did anything funny to you right?” Martha asked, looking worried as she whipped the pancake batter in the bowl.  
Lex blinked. Martha couldn't be asking what he thought she was asking, right? Not only was the doctors frauds, they were child molesters now?  
  
Martha shook her head. “I still haven't forgotten the time that one of the so-called doctors was giving you electroshock therapy. They certainly don't use that method to cure cancer at all! Heck, they no longer use that method to cure many various illnesses.... there's only a few illnesses out there for which such a thing could be justified.”

 

Oh, that's what Martha was actually asking him about. Lex's confusion cleared up, and he smiled.

He continued to play innocent. “Well, I certainly didn't know that. How do I know which treatments for cancer is actually legit and which ones are just scams used by phonies who like to abuse their positions? So how can I tell you guys if I think anything funny is going on?”

 

Martha sighed, obviously unhappy with that answer. She then looked even more determined, obviously dead set on talking to Lionel about Lex's treatments.

 

Of course Lex knew how cancer was actually treated, having witnessed what his mother had gone though. But Martha didn't have to know that, did she? Lex was going to have so much fun seeing Lionel being treated like a moron by the woman... heheh.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Lionel wasn't ridiculed as much as Lex had hoped he would be, but it was still satisfying to see somebody actually stand up to him.  
  
Especially when Martha kept up her verbal onslaught, hardly allowing Lionel have a word in edgewise.  
  
“.....and that's why I think you should allow your son some breathing room. I think maybe spending some time at the farm with me would do him some good. That boy needs sunshine and fresh air... getting himself doped up on all that medicine cannot be healthy at all. Surely you can't think forcing a young boy into being a guinea pig for those doctors is good for his health?”  
  
Lex peered though the crack of the door, trying to gauge Lionel's mood.  
  
From here, he looked somewhat annoyed. Lionel started speaking, now that he was finally allowed to speak.  
  
“Martha, I'm pleased that you're so concerned for my son. I really do. However, as you probably know my son has a terminal illness just like his mother. I don't feel that he has much time to live, and that's why I've been doing everything in my power to prolong his life. Surely you can understand that, Martha. Wouldn't you do everything you could think of, inducing using all of your existing resources to save your own son if he was in the same situation? Am I to take your word over those doctors who I trust with my son's life? After all it is his life at stake here.”  
  
Martha hesitated at this.  
  
“I understand where you're coming from.” She said, “However I don't feel like I can trust those doctors... there's just something so cold about them. I suspect they're only working for you so that they can leech money off you while doing nothing for your son. Surely you can understand why I'm worried?”  
  
Lionel smiled at her indulgently. “From what I hear, you seem to have an unusual fear of hospitals where your own son is concerned. You seem to strongly prefer natural cures over a doctor's help. I don't mean to insult you, but I'm not a strong believer of homeopathic medicine like you seem to be... I tend to view such things as something that silly hippies would hold stock in.”  
  
Martha stiffened at this. “Is that how you see me? Because I have to tell you, I'm not like that at all!”  
  
Lionel sighed. “Now, don't be like that. I do respect you, despite our differing viewpoints on medicine. How about this? I can allow him to go out with you each weekend if you want, but the rest of the time he stays here with the doctors. Does that sound like a good alternative to you?”  
  
Martha nodded, although very reluctantly.

 

Lionel smiled.  
  


The two of them moved towards the door, and Lex had to hurry back into the kitchen and pretend that he hadn't been eavesdropping.  
  
Martha went to fetch the tutors for Lex, and Lionel motioned him over.  
  
Lex obediently went over to his father, and his father looked down at him with eyebrows raised.  
  
“Honestly... while I'm proud of your feeble attempt at manipulating Martha, I have to say what you did wasn't needed at all. I know you don't like being tested by the scientists and the doctors, but I would have thought that you understood why we had to do this. And if you wanted to spend more time at the Kent farm you should have told me.” Lionel remarked, with one hand firmly clasped on Lex's shoulder.  
  
Thoroughly shocked at having been found out so easily, Lex frowned as he looked up at his father. “But you never let me do anything I want. What's the catch?”  
  


Lionel smirked. “I'll let you know very soon, son. But for now, just watch out for any unusual occurrences and report back to me.”  
  
Lex just nodded quietly, not sure what he was getting himself into here. Lionel smiled that shark grin.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Lex finally got to meet the infamous Chloe, as well as Pete Ross. Clark had taken him on the tour of Smallville High that he had promised Lex earlier this month.  
  
Pete Ross had been cold towards him, and had actually complained why Clark was bringing “the little luthor brat” to High school. He only scoffed when Clark had said something about it being Friday, and there being a school holiday next week. Clark then had to take Pete aside and talk to him.  
  
Clearly, Pete wasn't going to make it easy for Lex and his plan. You know, the one where he would integrate himself into Clark's social life and make it so that Clark's friends wouldn't mind having him hang out with them despite the age difference. Lex had thought that maybe he could try to wow Pete with his riches of video games and stuff like that. But considering that Pete seemed to hate the Luthors with a burning passion, that was going to be very hard! Clearly it was going to take more than a large screen TV and video games in order to win over Pete Ross. And Pete also clearly thought he was too cool to hang out with a little kid, even one rich as Lex Luthor.  
  
Chloe Sullivan on the other hand, wasn't as hostile. But Lex did find her intimidating for a whole different reason. She had seemed highly interested in getting an interview from him for the school newspaper for some reason... and when he agreed to it, she heavily interrogated him!  
For god's sake, he was only 9 years old but she seemed to pay that no mind, treating him as if he just a teenager like everyone else in this building. He would have found that rather refreshing of it wasn't for the uncomfortable questions she kept on shooting his way.  
  
Chloe Sullivan held out two photos. The photos were an older one of him with hair, and one of him after the meteor storm and the coma. “So tell me... How is it that you look exactly like your former deceased brother? You're practically his twin... the only difference is that you have no hair and you also seem older, despite the fact that you're the same age as he was when he died.”  
  
“Umm...” Lex fidgeted. He thought that Lionel had done his best to fool everyone... but apparently Chloe couldn't be fooled completely, and thought something was up. So Lex did his best to throw out the first excuse he thought of. “It's just genetics, I guess. A lot of kids look exactly like how their daddy did when he was that age.”  
  
Chloe smirked knowingly. “True, but most kids usually have some variation in their appearances....even if they do look similar. No kid will exactly look like their half-brother if they're not twins and were born to different mothers. Tell me, what was your mother's name? Nobody seems to know much about this mysterious woman who apparently died of an illness and left you behind for your father to find...”  
  
Lex's mind drew a blank. He actually kept on forgetting the fake name that Lionel had came up with for Lex's cover story. All he could remember was this: He lived in Ohio with his mom until her untimely demise, and all his surviving relatives had a string of bad luck which led to them being unable to take care of him. So they had reached out and found Lionel Luthor, who had been surprised to discover that he had a son.  
  
“Li.. Lily. Her name was Lily.” Lex answered quickly... hopefully he didn't blow his entire cover story with that. It was all he could think of at the moment without revealing that his mother was actually Lillian Luthor.  
  
Chloe looked thoughtful at this. “Hmm. A name starting with L, and I hear she was a redhead as well. Had cancer and then died of it.... sounds like Lillian Luthor right down to her tragic story. I have to say that's awfully strange...”

 

Lex glared at Chloe. This blonde girl was way too smart for her own good. “Why is that so strange??”  
  
Chole then grinned. “Well I say it's strange because that only leaves two possible scenarios. Number 1, The entire story that Lionel Luthor concocted for you was total bullshit and that you're not really who everyone thinks you are.  
  
Or... the second theory: Lionel Luthor couldn't grieve over his late son and wife's death normally and could not let go. He actually went out of his way to find a Lillian look-alike who also had the same past and background. So he slept with this look-alike as a way to cope with his grief, and ended up fathering you. He also knew about you, and had you named after his late son. This second scenario would explain why you look so much like your name sake, but then why would he make up a story about not having known that you existed until after she died?”  
  
Lex raised his eyebrows. “That last scenario almost makes sense, in a convoluted sort of way. But why would you think that dad would lie about who I really was, in the first scenario?”  
  
Chloe grinned. “I'm thinking that maybe you're really a clone and that your daddy just wants to hide it because cloning's currently illegal. Any comments on that?”  
  
Lex blinked at this. Chloe was really strange, that was for sure. How did she come up with those ideas?  
  
That was when his eyes came upon “The wall of weird”, as he soon learned it was called.

 

“What is this? What's with all the newspapers there?” Lex asked, in a feeble attempt to distract Chloe.  
  
Chloe grinned. “That's my wall of weird. I've been collecting information on the strange things that occurred in this town. And it all started with the meteor storm. What do you think of it?”  
  
Lex scanned all the articles pinned to the wall, and his eyebrows rose. Every single one of them almost seemed like they belonged on one of those tacky newpapers that was always talking about aliens, bigfoot and stuff like that. The only thing they all had in common was that every single one of them related to the meteor rocks or people going crazy. There was even a picture of Lana Lang as a little kid up there.  
  
Suddenly Chole's unusual questions made sense, given her strong interest in the supernatural and the bizarre.   
  
Lex smirked to himself. Only Clark could end up being friends with a crazy conspiracy theorist. At least he thought that was what those sorts of people were called. Although in Chloe's case she wasn't so much a conspiracy theorist as she was the type of person who saw the obvious stuff happening in Smallville and reported it. She still did it in a way that seemed crazy though.  
  
Lex politely excused himself despite Chloe's protests, and went looking for Clark.   
  
Clark had stepped out with Pete, leaving Lex alone with the nutty blonde. And he hadn't been back for a while... which made him wonder if Clark forgot about him.

Clark was now arguing with Pete, so Lex stood out of sight and eavesdropped on the conversation.  
  
“Look, man, all I'm saying is,” Pete complained, “I can understand your mom having to work for that creep but why do you have to hang out with his kid?? He's not even the same age as we are!”  
  
Clark shook his head. “I don't understand why you have such a problem with Lex. If you got to know him you would actually find that he's a very sweet kid, and he's very mature for his age. I know his father apparently scammed your family out of the creamed corn factory or something like that, but Lex had nothing to do with that. Heck, he wasn't even born then.”

Lex frowned at this. So that was why Pete hated him so much.

Well, that was too bad... he couldn't win Pete over then. But maybe if he was to break the two of them up somehow, and become Clark's new best friend....

Lex grinned wickedly at the thought. Then he wouldn't have to share Clark at all, especially if he insisted on doing activities that only boys could do together. Then Chloe and Lana couldn't come bother the two of them.


	3. Snapshots of Lex's Life, and a Episode remix of "Jitters"

 

The days in the months afterward alternated between being the best days of his life, and being his worst ones.

 

 **The good** : Lex got to spend the entire weekends at the Kent house, even having the occasional sleepovers. He learned how to make different types of food with Martha, and played on the Super Nintendo Console with Clark after the teenager was done with his chores. For the sleep-overs they read the harry potter books and Warrior angel comics before bed together... They even got to cuddle together as they slept, which Lex liked a lot. Clark was like a giant, warm teddy bear that cuddled back and that just helped Lex fall asleep faster. To be honest, Lex slept better here than he ever did at home.  
  
Clark apologized for not having the latest video consoles like Lex probably did at home, but Lex shook his head. Lex then told Clark about how his daddy didn't allow him to have that many video games at all. That Lionel told him that they were too much of a frivolous waste of time for a Luthor. The only games that Lionel let him have, were games that had to do with war strategies, learning and or critical thinking.

 

So as a result, Lex considered the games at his home to be pretty much boring as heck. Lex commented that playing games like Mario Kart racing was WAY more fun, especially if he got to beat Clark at racing. Clark commented that Lex was probably just trying to make him feel better, but still thought that it sucked how Lionel didn't let him have any fun games at all.

 

Video games weren't the only thing they did together though, there was times when they played catch and basketball outside. Most of the time it was just the two of them, but there was times when Pete joined them (much to Lex's annoyance). The games with Pete didn't last very long, because the boy didn't feel comfortable playing with Lex at all. To be honest, that suited Lex just fine. Plus, it helped serve Lex's plan in making Pete look bad in front of Clark.

 

Even Jonathan seemed to be warming up to Lex somewhat, and chuckled whenever he saw Lex clinging to/hanging off Clark (sometimes literally). Lex had overheard him saying to Martha that he thought it was nice how Clark was playing the big brother to Lex. And that Clark might just be a good influence on somebody like Lex, considering who his father was. Jonathan was never shy about bashing Lionel Luthor in front of Lex Luthor himself, which Lex had found interesting. He had asked him once why Jonathan disliked Lionel so much, but he didn't really get a straight answer about that. It made him wonder what they were hiding from him.

 

Lex had asked Clark about that, but Clark just looked uncomfortable and mumbled that he didn't really know the full story neither, just that it had something to do with the creamed corn factory, which was now Lionel's crap factory.

 

 **The bad:** Even weekends couldn't last forever, and every week he was forced to go back home and endure whole barrage of tests from the doctors-slash-scientists. And then there was the whole thing with his tutors, where he managed to absorb everything they taught him at break-neck speeds. Which had shocked his tutors, as they had thought it was impossible that a kid could absorb so much in such a short time and still understand it all.

 

In a way it was like he was catching up on almost 12-years' worth of education in five months, and were now at the same level as the Junior high school students despite being only nine-years-old. Both Lionel and the doctors had noticed this, and so they came up with some new tests to measure his brain development and his IQ.... which was both annoying and extremely boring. At least it wasn't painful like the other tests. It was just a whole lot of MRI's and answering questions.  
  
It made Lex miss the days when his father saw him as more than just a science project.

 

Then there was the issue of the “growing pains”. Lex Luthor now looked like a 12 year old boy, but his entire body ached at times because his body was trying to keep up with the rapid growth thing he seemed to have going on. Every morning and night he had to take those really strong painkillers just so that he wouldn't be mentally and physically crippled from the pain.

 

The few times he forgot to take the pills, like when he had been having so much fun at the Kents' house, he had been curled up in the fetal position trying not to cry too much from the pain. Clark found him like that a few times, and had once freaked out big time over it. He thought that Lex needed to go to the hospital. Lex had to tell him, though gritted teeth, that there was nothing the hospital could do about it. That it was just a part of his “illness”, so this was normal.

 

So Martha had to go get his pills, and both she and Clark took turns holding Lex as he worked though the pain. Jonathan didn't really do much expect give Lex pitying glances when it happened. Worst of all, Clark always looked so distressed and guilty when this happened, so Lex made it a point to ensure that he didn't forget to take his pills ever again. He had taken to wearing a watch that made beeping sounds at the appropriate times, so that he'd always be reminded if he actually forgot again.

 

Then there was the fact that in order to keep up with the weird fast growth, he often ended up feeling so starved half the time after any activity that he could literally beat Clark in an eating contest! And as Jonathan Kent put it, Clark ate enough for three farmhands alone. So yeah, that was a lot of food for one little boy to eat on a regular basis.

 

The cook at the castle mansion didn't mind, and often beamed proudly as she watched the young master eat everything on his plate and then asked for thirds. She often said that it was so nice to see young boys have such a healthy appreciation for good food.

 

But there was the issue of catching Lionel's attention alongside the scientists' own, yet again. Lionel was worried about his son turning into an obese glutton, because that would be highly unbecoming of a Luthor. However, the scientists assured him that since Lex Luthor was going though a small growth spurt, he needed all the food to keep his metabolism stable and thus had no chance of becoming obese.

 

Lex hated the fact that all of it had to happen at all, because it made him feel like a massive freak. None of it was normal at all!!  
  


==============================================

 

He had actually dared to open up to Clark too, about the problems he was having. Clark was surprised to hear that what Lex had wasn't actually some form of super-cancer like he had originally thought.... but rather a weird effect of the meteors. Lex still hadn't told him about the whole “Sleeping Beauty” incident though... he felt that was just too far out there for Clark to believe, even with all the weird stuff occurring in Smallville. For some reason, Clark still looked horribly guilty about what had happened to Lex, which he found to be weird.

 

Clark listened attentively about the problems Lex had with the whole growing up too fast thing, and how he had to eat too much just so that he couldn't starve. Lex worried that he was turning into something far too weird.  
  
In turn, Clark spoke about how he's had weird developments himself too.

 

Apparently, he developed X-ray vision a while ago. Clark shuddered as he described what Pete had looked like without his skin, and how much it had freaked him out. And on top of it he had to deal with a pushy coach so hot-headed that he literally set things on fire because of it.

 

Lex listened in awe as Clark complained about how he basically had to save Principal Kwan from the Coach just because the two adults had a few disagreements regarding the football players.

 

“The adults keep on telling teenagers like me to be more mature, and they act worse than a bunch of third-graders!” Clark couldn't help but say.

 

Clark then told him the story of Tina Greener, who had a crush on Lana and could shape-shift.

“Remember when your father was accused of robbing a bank, Lex?”   
  
Lex simply nodded, and Clark told him: “Well, it turns out it was actually Tina Greener. She's in belle reeve now.”

 

There was also this incident with some Jock having heat-absorbing powers and as an result could freeze things. Clark had to save Chloe Sullivan from that guy.

 

Personally, Lex thought that Clark's so-called problems were totally awesome... he was like a real-life Warrior Angel, only better! Lex had always wanted to be a Superhero or something equally cool, and now Clark was basically living that dream. Lex couldn't believe that Clark actually wanted to be normal. But then again, Lex just wanted to be normal too and not be a freakish fast-aging boy.

 

So everyone had their own problems, and maybe it was just human nature to think that their personal problems were always worse than other people's. That other people's problems were totally insignificant compared to theirs, because really, how could anything be worse than their current suffering?

 

At least the two of them had the benefit of living in Smallville, where everyone was totally oblivious to the weird things that went on. Anywhere else, Lex would have probably been ousted as some sort of freaky boy who were aging way too fast and made a public spectacle out of him. But here, they simply still saw him as that poor sickly boy. And any unusual growth they saw, they simply contributed to him bulking up and becoming healthy. They would say that before he had been way too skinny and short for a 9-year-old, and now he was healthy thanks to Smallville's fresh air and food. A 9-year-old hitting puberty and going though a growth spurt so early might be uncommon, but not all that unusual as seeing there was other kids who had gone though the same thing in the USA. So far as Smallville was concerned, Lex was normal.

 

Even Jonathan and Martha seemed affected by “Smallville Blindness” regarding Lex, as he liked to think of the phenomenon.

 

Lex never thought he would be glad to be living in Smallville because of this, but he was. Smallville also had Clark, so there was that too.  
  
Clark chuckled. Lex looked up at him quizzically.

 

Clark then commented, “I was thinking about why I was able to open up to you like this so easily. I just don't tell people about things like this, you know. All my life, I was brought up to always hide what I was from other people. My parents made me promise that I would never tell or show anybody what I could do. They drilled into my head that there would be people out there who wouldn't hesitate to put me on a Lab gurney and slice me open. Or take me away from my family and force me to become some sort of military super-weapon.”

 

Lex frowned. “So why did you tell me then?”  
  
Clark smiled. “Well... the cat was mostly out of the bag already when Greg showed up and started doing all that crazy stuff. You already saw what I could do, and I had already told you about the meteors, and how they did stuff to the people here. To lie and pretend I was normal around you afterward would be like closing the barn doors after all the horses had already gotten out. You know what I mean? Plus, after that I was waiting for somebody like Lionel to show up and start questioning me over why his son was saying those crazy things about me. But nobody ever showed up, so I guess you never told anybody about what really happened.”

 

Lex shook his head. “I would never tell anybody at all!! Not even my daddy. Speaking of which, I think you should be more careful around him. He already suspects that you and your parents are hiding something weird, but he doesn't know what. He actually asked me to keep a eye out here and report back to him. But I haven't been doing that.”

 

Clark tilted his head. “Why didn't you tell him?”

 

Lex sighed. “Are you kidding me? Haven't you seen what he's been doing with me? All those scientists treating me like I'm some sort of science project...”

 

“Oh. But he's only doing that because he loves you, right? He just wants you to get better.” Clark naively said, in what was a sort of hopeful voice.

 

Lex smirked. “If he was willingly to go that far for somebody he loved, imagine what he would do to somebody like you...”

 

Clark paled at this.

 

“I know all too well what it's like to have people look at you like you're a rare specimen under a microscope. For scientists to want to perform all sorts of painful tests on you just because you have a condition so unique that not even other meteor mutants have it.”

 

Lex moved so that he was now straddling Clark's legs, and wrapped his arms around Clark's shoulders.

 

He then continued, looking into Clark's eyes. “You're the very best friend I ever had in my whole life. You have no idea how important you are to me right now... And for this reason, I don't ever want you to go though something like that. That's why I would never tell anybody at all...”

 

“Lex...” Clark was staring at Lex, his expression like that of a large puppy dog. Clark pulled Lex into a hug, holding the young boy tightly.

 

“Lex... I know we've been only friends for a few months but I feel the same way. As a matter of fact, it feels like we've been friends our whole lives when I spend time with you. You're basically one of my best friends now too.” Clark mumbled into Lex's neck.

 

Lex felt some warmth spread throughout his body at this, and he hugged back. He nuzzled at Clark's neck, and mumbled that he loved Clark.  
  
Martha found them like that as she walked up the steps to the loft.

 

“Hmm, what's going on here?” Martha smiled quizzically at them.

 

Lex looked embarrassed. “Um, Clark was basically comforting me while I whined at him about how sucky it was to have so many doctors at my home. I know I should try to act like a man and just suck it up.... but sometimes it feels too much sometimes. I really hate being sick all the time!”

 

Martha chuckled. “Well, I think you're being incredibly strong right now. Some people would had just given up on their life if they had experienced even the smallest amount of what you went though. But you? You haven't given up on trying at all... you're a real survivor. And don't you dare ever forget that.”

 

“Um, I won't.” Lex felt faintly embarrassed and strangely pleased at being described that way.

 

“So mom... did you come up here for a reason?” Clark asked.

 

Martha frowned, and then her face cleared up when she remembered the reason why she came up here.

 

“oh yes. I wanted to inform the two of you that the pies are done. I know it's not quite supper yet, but Lex has to go back before suppertime so I thought maybe he would like a piece of pie before he went.”

 

“Is it Blueberry??” Lex looked hopeful at this, since he discovered that it was his most favorite pie flavor, alongside apple pie.

 

Martha chuckled. “Yes, and I also made Clark's favorite, apple pie.”

 

“Alright!!” Clark cheered.

 

The boys eagerly raced outside to the house and Martha slowly followed behind them, smiling at their childish antics.

 

============================================  
  
In the following week, Lex had his first wet dream.  
  
The dream had started out all blurry and vague... with it being a highly nondescript person that might had been female at first. However that female person slowly morphed into a strong-muscled male, especially a brunette with green eyes. They weren't doing anything really sexual in the dream.... it was mostly a whole lot of kissing, cuddling and loving whispers.

Still it had been enough for him to shoot his load in his sleep. And he had woken up in the morning wet and sticky.

 

Even though he was in the body of a 12 to 13 years old now, he still had the mind of a 9 year old when it came to some things. And he hadn't received formal sexual education at all, unless you counted the information on what to do if an adult was touching him in inappropriate places. He knew all the technical names of body parts, so he could always say clearly what happened to him. He also knew that an adult who liked kids in that way was called a pedophile. He also knew that a woman and a man did things together, but only had the vaguest idea what those things were.

 

But that wasn't enough in terms of sex education, and so Lex had thought that the white gunk all over his sheets were a strange form of pee. That maybe his pee had finally mutated along with the rest of his body. But that meant that he had wet his bed, and he was WAY TOO OLD for that!

 

Lex was completely mortified. He still remembered the last time he wet the bed around 5 years old...Lionel had came up with a cruel and unusual punishment to ensure that Lex wouldn't ever wet the bed again. Because it was so unbecoming of a Luthor to do things like bed-wetting. And to be honest here, Lex did not want to go though that again!!

 

So he had been in the process of sneaking his bed sheets to the Laundry room before anybody caught him. He didn't know how to use the washing machine, but he was hoping that if he sneaked in the sheets with all the others....then nobody would know who had soiled those sheets. If he was lucky, some of the staff might even blame one of those scientists who were staying at the castle here.

 

But of course he had to be the most unlucky boy on the face of earth.

 

For Nell, Lionel and a few random scientists were blocking the hallway passage to the Laundry room! Nell was practically clinging to Lionel as he was snarling at the Scientists to come back another time, because he wasn't in the mood to sign off on the paperwork right now.

 

“Sir, I know you don't want to be bothered right now, but I believe we have finally made a break-though, but we can't get to work on it unless you approve everything and bring in more of those meteor rocks...”

 

Lionel sighed. “Fine, fine...call the other guys to get whatever you want. I'll approve of all the shipments later on. Now leave us alone.”

 

Lex had been hiding by a door, hoping that they would leave down the other hallway instead of the one he was in. And most importantly, that they wouldn't spot him.  
  
Unfortunately Nell saw a dark shadow out of the corner of her eyes, and spotted him. She then said in a loud, drunken voice: “Hey, darling, what is your son doing up so late?”

 

All heads swung towards Lex, and he couldn't help but try to run back to his room. However the weight of the bed sheets made him trip. He crashed to the floor loudly, and then groaned. So much for not being caught in the act!

 

All the adults were now standing around Lex, looking both worried and curious.

 

Lionel sighed. “Lex, what are you doing up so late??”

Lex blushed brightly, as he tried to come up with an rational explanation. He tried to say something but all he could do was stammer nonsensically. “I-I-I..... uh.....the blankets... um, scratchy, something?”

 

Much to his horror, one of the scientists bent down and picked up the blanket by one hand. And by doing so, revealed the white spots on the sheets.

 

“Hmm, looks like he's at the age for wet dreams, and tried to hide the evidence.” The man remarked.

 

Nell let out drunken laughter at this. She could barely stand on her own, and so clung to Lionel for support. Lionel himself also smelled of alcohol, although he wasn't as drunk as Nell was. It was obvious that the two of them had been drinking together.

 

“Heeey wait a minute, isn't he too young for wet dreams?” Nell wondered thoughtfully. Lionel leaned over to her, and mumbled something about Lex undergoing early puberty. Nell simply nodded in understanding.

 

The man who had picked up the blanket said something about how Lex's sperm samples could go a long way in deciphering why the boy was aging so fast, and why he hadn't been aging while in that coma. He then actually wrapped up the blanket, as intending to take it with him.

 

Lionel sighed, annoyed that his plans for a quiet intimate evening with Nell was now thoroughly ruined. “It looks like I have to talk to my son about the facts of life... so if everyone would kindly leave us alone? Oh, do help Nell find her way back to her guest room, will you?”

 

The men nodded, and escorted Nell towards the stairs in the other hallway.

 

Lionel didn't move, and simply stared down at his son.

 

Lex nearly gulped, but then realized that would make him appear weak in front of his father. So he didn't. He just sat there, waiting for his father's reaction.

 

To his surprise, Lionel simply started chuckling. “Congratulations, you officially just became a man. I imagine you'll start having all sorts of sexual urges, won't you? Thankfully there aren't that many girls your age in town that you can chase after.... but all the same, I suppose we'll have to give you a formal education in that area, won't we?”

 

Lex blinked. That white gunk actually was something sex-related, and not pee?? Well, that explained why his dad wasn't upset at all. If anything Lionel was probably proud of Lex for maturing at such a early age when most didn't. Lex suddenly felt calm, now that he knew he wasn't in any trouble.

 

He stood up, and Lionel placed an hand on Lex's shoulders. “Come on, let's get you back to bed.”

 

Soon as Lex was settled back in bed, Lionel spoke up again. “Hmm, only the best teacher for this subject will do. There's this woman in metropolis who's absolutely the best when it comes to all kinds of sex techniques. She's also very good at keeping everything clean and healthy even when doing the most filthiest, depraved thing you can imagine. You'll have to learn that part too, don't want you to catch all sort of nasty STDs, eh?”

 

Lex looked up at Lionel quizzically. His dad wasn't going to explain to him about it now, but instead some woman was going to do it?

 

Lionel noticed his son's confused look, and chuckled. “What, did you think I was going to allow you to have a lackluster sex education, and let you stumble though the rest of it like a inexperienced virgin? Oh no, I'm not having that. A Luthor is always experienced and skilled at everything he does, no matter what the age.” Lionel paused for dramatic effect, before continuing. ”You'll be having your first time with your teacher, and I'm sure you'll learn a lot from her too. * **chuckles** * Consider this my gift to you for having achieved true manhood at last.”

 

Just like that, he left.

 

Lex just stared at the closed doors of his room, feeling thoroughly confused. There was also a little bit of dread mixed in alongside all that confusion. He wasn't sure what was about to happen, but it definitely wasn't good.

 

~~~~~~~  
  
The next morning Lex was sitting at the kitchen island with Martha and the cook, working on his schoolwork when Lionel paused in the doorway. Enrique, the butler, was also in the kitchen, getting Lionel's breakfast ready.

 

“Enrique, would you be kind enough to get me the number of.... let me see, what does she call herself now those days? Oh yes, Maria Mead.”

 

Enrique frowned. “May I speak freely, sir?”

 

Lionel raised his eyebrows at this. “Yes, you may.”

 

Enrique then asked, “I thought things were getting along well between you and Miss Nell that you were no longer in need of Miss Maria's.... services.”

 

Lionel harrumphed at this. “I don't pay you to question everything I do! Also, Miss Maria is not for me this time. Now that Lex has the early onset of puberty, I thought it prudent that Maria Mead be hired in order to give Lex a sex-ed teacher.”

 

Enrique's eyebrows went all the way to his hairline at this. “Ahh... I see. I'll get the number.”

 

With this, he left. Lionel left too as well.

 

Martha had overheard all of this, and she raised her eyebrows. “What was that all about?”

 

Cook sighed. “I don't know neither... but I've learned that with a man like Lionel you're better off not asking questions. Otherwise you're stuck with answers that you don't like, and cannot do anything about it at all no matter how hard you try.”

 

Martha looked puzzled at this.

 

Lex thought it prudent to change the subject, least Martha find out about his embarrassing incident last night. He didn't want for everyone in the castle to know!

 

“Martha, I won't be spending most of my day here this day. My father is taking me down to the factory where he works today.”

 

Martha smiled at this. “You know, there's a school trip to the factory today for Clark's class which takes all day. Maybe you could chat with Clark there.”

 

Lex brightened at this. He usually didn't get to see Clark much unless it was on the weekends, or after school when Clark came over to visit both Lex and Martha.

 

“You think so? I'll have to see if I can talk father into letting me tour with the class, then.”

 

Martha nodded. “Well then, finish up your breakfast.”  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Lionel was actually supposed to drop off his son at Level 3.1 for some top-secret tests, a secret level underneath the manure factory and then get in some work himself.

 

However, he was distracted by some blond guy called Gabe Sullivan.

 

Gabe rambled to Lionel about things that had to be done with the Factory, and tried his best to not look annoyed when Lionel tried to hand-wave those things off as not important.

 

However, Gabe did manage to talk Lionel into going to some important meeting and signing off on important paperwork for the Factory.

 

However, that left the issue of having Lex around....

 

Lex perked up at this part, and told Lionel about the School trip here. Gabe nodded, saying that they had agreed to host a school trip here, so that the students could learn more about working at a factory.

 

“Can I be with them for now? Afterward we can go do that thing you were planning to anyway....Please??” Lex looked up at Lionel with wide, hopeful eyes.

 

Gabe caught himself smiling at how cute Lex seemed to be acting, and then quickly covered his mouth with his hand. He cleared his throat. “Sir, you could go to the meeting while I escort your son to the area where they're hosting the School trip? I'll meet you back at the factory's meeting room.”

 

Lionel let out a loud sigh. “Very well. Make it so.”

 

With that, he stomped towards the meeting room.

 

Gabe nodded at Lex, and held out his hand. “Do allow me to introduce myself properly. Gabe Sullivan at your service.”

 

Lex held out his hand as well, and Gabe gave it a good hearty shake. “ And I'm Lex Luthor.”

 

With that, they turned around and walked towards the higher levels of the plant.

 

“I heard you were around 8 years old?” Gabe wondered.

 

Lex answered, “I'm actually 9 years old going on 10. I'll turn 10 years old on November 25th.”

 

Gabe frowned. “I see... I was wondering about that because you almost look like a young teenager. I have to say you look very mature for your age.”

 

Lex grinned at this. “It's probably because I'm bald now. Being bald always make people look old. I've been told that I look like I'm 12 to 13 years old....not that I mind at all. It's actually better now than when I used to have hair. I had this bright red hair that looked like it belonged on a clown, and on top of it I was always so short that people thought I was like five years old when I was really eight to nine years old!”

  
Gabe looked at Lex, clearly trying to picture Lex with red hair. “I see... that must had been annoying. But at least you'll fit in with this school group now... I don't think anybody there will even guess that you're six years younger than they are unless you tell them.”

 

Lex looked surprised at this, and then became pleased. “So, if I look like I could fit in, then do you think I could go to Smallville high school with Clark Kent?”

 

Gabe looked startled at this. “Isn't that my daughter's friend? How do you know him?”

 

“Martha's basically my caretaker whenever Lionel's too busy to look after me. I hang out with Clark a lot at their house.... he's a really great guy. And I've met your daughter too.... she's... uh, interesting.” Lex explained, smiling.

 

Gabe smiled, not believing that he had forgotten about something so obvious.

 

“Oh yes, that's right! I can't believe I forgot that part. Yeah, Clark's a great guy, isn't he? He's probably one of the few guys who I feel I can trust concerning my daughter's safety. To be honest here, as much as I love Chloe, I have to say she gets into way too much trouble those days for her own good. Clark and Pete are the ones I depend on to keep her out of trouble.”

 

Lex was about to ask what sort of trouble she got in on a regular basis, but their conversation was cut short as they finally got to the school group.

 

Lex saw Clark right away, and called out to him as he rushed over.

 

Clark looked confused at first as he turned around, but his face brightened when he saw Lex running over.

 

“Lex! What are you doing here?”

 

Gabe answered for Lex, and told Clark what was going on. “So you see, I need him to stay with the class for now until Lionel is done with his business for the day.”

 

Gabe looked over at his daughter, who had been next to Clark the whole time. “Chloe, would you do me a favor and watch him for me?”

 

Chloe smiled. “Sure thing. I think between me and Clark, Lex will be well-behaved. So you can go ahead with that meeting.”

 

Gabe smiled back, and waved as he left.

 

Lex grinned up at Clark. “This is great! I thought I would be stuck all day having to watch my father do boring work, but I'm not bored anymore.”

 

Clark flashed his 100-watt smile, and replied that the tour was about to start. So they better hold hands as not to get lost.

 

Lex nodded, and took a hold of Clark's warm hands.

 

As they walked though the factory, there was some areas that started to get cold. So Lex eventually started leaning into Clark for warmth, and Clark couldn't help but wrap one arm around Lex.

 

Clark smiled at Lex. “Cold?”

 

Lex nodded. “Yes, but you're helping.” With that, he smiled.

 

As a matter of fact, Clark was like some sort of walking radiator with the way he just kept on giving off warmth. It was nice.

 

“Aww, look at the boys in love.” A mocking voice said behind them.

 

Lex and Clark looked behind them, and it turned out to be a trio of Jocks. Or at least, Lex assumed they were judging by the way they were dressed.

 

They were all muscular, and wearing Crows' letterbox jackets.

 

Clark rolled his eyes. “Whitney, not you again. Seriously, just leave us alone.”

 

The blonde one sneered at this, so presumably he was the one Clark was talking to. “In case you haven't noticed, this is Smallville, not Metropolis. You think people around here are going to be so open-minded about a pair of boys acting like faggots?”

 

The two boys behind Whitney snickered at this. One of them replied: “It's as if they're just beggin' for a scare-crowin'! Maybe we ought to do it... eh?”

 

Clark narrowed his eyes at this. “Whatever you do, leave Lex out of this. He's only nine years old, for pete's sake!”

 

This seemed to surprise Whitney. “Really? He looks so much older than that...” He replied, rather doubtfully.

 

The other boy who hadn't spoken up until now, took this opportunity to embarrass Clark even more. “Only 9 years old, you say? Ew, not only are you gay, you're a pedophile too? Then again, they do say that all gay people are pedophiles... so it doesn't surprise me! Hahahaha, sicko!”

 

Clark looked like somebody had stabbed him right where his heart was, when the third boy had made that homophobic comment. He was like a kicked puppy, who couldn't say anything as it was abused. It was then that a very furious Chloe suddenly popped up between the two groups.

 

“I cannot believe you guys! Seriously, are you Jocks so hard-up for anything that you start seeing something perverted going on in a simple friendship between a 9-year-old boy and a 15-year-old?? If you keep on seeing things like that, then I have to say YOU'RE the perverts, not them! What's more, you see this little boy?”

 

With that, Chloe gestured to Lex. “This is the son of Lionel Luthor, the man who ensures that the majority of people holds jobs here in Smallville! What do you think is going to happen if he found out that some of his employees' children were bullying his sickly, ill son?? I imagine he's gonna put you and your family though hell!”

 

The three Jocks paled upon hearing this information.

 

Before Whitney could say anything in response, there was a loud commotion in front of them.

 

They all turned around to see what was going on, and they couldn't see anything at first due to the fact that there was tons of students in front of them.

 

But then the students in front suddenly laid down on the floor, shaking with fear as they did so.

 

It was then that the group in the back was able to see who made the commotion.

 

It was some deranged-looking man with a gun, screaming his head off.

 

Clark automatically stepped in front of Lex and Chloe, acting as a human shield. Whitney and his buds behind them just imitated the other students, cowering on the floor. So as an result Clark, Chloe and Lex was the only ones still standing.

 

Thankfully, this didn't seem to matter to the man, because he was just rambling about how he was holding them hostage until he found Level 3.

 

Clark started talking to the man, in the same voice he used when talking to scared or wounded animals. “Okay, calm down, sir. Aren't you Earl Jenkins?”

 

Earl gave Clark a sharp glance, and the teenager put his hands up. “Don't worry, I'm unarmed.... see? Don't you remember me? You worked for my parents at one time....”

 

Earl seemed to calm down at this.

 

Over the course of a few minutes, the group learned who the man was, and what he was all about.

 

His name was Earl Jenkins, a employee here and he was under the belief that he had been infected with something from “level 3”. He spoke of how there was a level dedicated to Lab tests around here somewhere, and that they had been working on some experimental fertilizer when it exploded a few weeks ago. Ever since then, he had a case of the jitters. The jitters he had though, felt more like seizures to him. Each time he had it, something horrible always seemed to happen. The rooms would literally shake along with him, and send anybody who was too close to him flying.

He had almost killed his baby son and his best friend Will. Both of them were now in critical condition at the hospital and nobody knew if they would ever make it. His own wife was now scared of him.

 

Earl had tried to deal with it on his own without going to anybody else first, but couldn't take it anymore. The worst part of it was that nobody seemed to believe him, because there was no records of a explosion at the plant. He wanted to show the world proof of what Lionel had done to him, that he wasn't some sort of crazy person.

 

Clark then offered to find the floor plans for the factory, if it would make this whole situation go away faster. Early reluctantly agreed, and Clark turned to face Chloe.

 

“Chloe, watch after Lex for me, will you? I promise to resolve this fast as I can, okay?”

 

Chloe looked like she wanted to protest to this while thing, but instead she just silently nodded. With that, Clark left.

 

“Don't worry, Chloe.” Lex whispered to her, “Clark's pretty amazing when it comes to situations like this. He'll save us all, I know it.”

 

Chloe hugged him, and murmured, “Gee, I hope so.”

 

Whitney started whispering with the other jocks, and one of his friends shook his head.

 

Lex overheard him saying something like, “Don't do it, bro! He'll kill you!”  
  


Whitney grumbled, “But what else can we do? Wait around for him to do something?”

 

It was then Earl seemed to have one of his episodes, and held on to one of the pipes for support. Whitney took this chance to jump up and charge at him before Lex could yell for him to stop.

 

Unfortunately, Earl's seizure resulted with the pipe breaking off in Earl's hands. As he shook, he accidentally swing the pipe in Whitney's direction as he was charging at Earl. Whitney was knocked back into his back, his nose and jaw now bright red from blood.

 

Earl came back to himself, and blinked when he saw what he had done. He started shaking, looking upset. “What did you do?? Stay away from me!” His trigger finger started twitching, as he shook the gun around. “Stay down and don't do anything else!”

 

It was then that Lex noticed that there was yellow-colored steam coming out of the broken pipes. Lex then realized that it was gas coming out... he didn't really know what kind of gas it was, but it couldn't be good right?

 

Lex wondered if Clark would come back in time to get everyone out of here before the gas did anything. Clark was super-fast and really strong, but Lionel was really good at hiding things so it might take a while for Clark to find those blueprints...

 

It was then that Lex made an decision. The way things were going, things were only going to escalate... and Clark might end up having his powers revealed in front of those other people. Plus, there was also the possibly that some people here might die before he got back.

 

Whitney started groaning, having recovered from the hit. However his nose and Jaw looked broken, so it looked like he couldn't speak at the moment.

 

Whitney was still alive, at least... but not for long if all that blood was any indication.

 

That really cliched it for Lex, so he moved towards Earl.

 

“Lex!! what are you doing?” Chloe cried out, as she attempted to stop Lex.

 

“Earl, I know where Level 3 is. Let everyone else go and I'll show you.” Lex replied.

 

“Who the fuck are you? And why should I believe you?” Earl replied, his eyes narrowing.

 

“I'm Lex Luthor, Son of Lionel Luthor. He's taken me down there many times, so I know where all the secret entrances are.” Lex replied honestly.

 

Earl looked interested at this. “Is that so? Hmm... I swear to you, if this is a trick....”

 

Lex shook his head. “You have to admit, if it is a trick... you'll still have a hostage. And Don't you think that having the son of Lionel Luthor as your hostage is way more valuable than holding a bunch of random school kids?”

 

Earl nodded at this. “Very well. You heard Lex, he's filling in for all of you. Now leave!”

 

The students of Smallville high didn't need to be told twice, as most of them started running for the exit. Whitney's friends picked him up, and started dragging him towards the exit.

 

Now it was just Earl, Lex and Chloe.

 

Lex turned to face Chloe. “What are you doing? Leave!”

 

Chloe shook her head. “No way! You think I'm leaving a kid like you alone with a man like him? Besides, I promised my father that I would take care of you today.”

 

She took a deep breath as to steady herself, and then coughed due to the gas. “I.. I'm coming with you!”

 

Earl didn't have time for any of this. “Fine.. come with us then! Lex, show me the entrance to Level 3 now!”

 

So with that, Lex led the pair to a closet, which had an hidden door in the back. It led to an hallway with an elevator.

 

Earl scoffed. “I can't believe it was so obvious.... I should had known that they would had just walled up this section and put in a secret door. It wasn't here before you know.”

With this, they all went into the elevator and Lex pressed the hidden button.

 

Level 3 was a large underground bunker right under the factory, with more than a dozen scientists and doctors working around the clock researching things. Had they been found out, their cover story was that they were simply researching ways to develop new types of fertilizer.

 

However if you took a close look you would see this wasn't really the case. They did more than develop new types of fertilizer, for they had imprisoned dozens of meteor mutants inside those large transparent cages. The mutants seemed out of it as they were just sitting in their cages with a sedated, vacant look.

 

There was also dozens of medical tools, science tubes, etc lying around.

 

Chloe was no longer frightened, and were now looking at everything with a reporter's curiosity. She then pointed at one of the caged mutants. “Say, isn't that Tina Greener? I thought she was supposed to be in Belle Reeve! So what is she doing here?”

 

The scientists stared at the newcomers warily, unsure what to do. They did recognize Lex Luthor but they had no idea who the other two were. On one hand, they had been expecting Lex so that they could start up some new tests on him.... but on the other hand Lionel Luthor had never said anything about Lex coming in with other people.

 

Plus, that one man had a gun.

 

Earl was chuckling madly now. “You see...? I'm not crazy! They're doing some strange shit down here... I bet whatever they're doing here caused my illness!”

 

One of the scientists had the balls to come up to them, and ask: “Lex is authorized to be here, but you two are not. May I see your ID?”

 

Lex recognized him as Dr.Melhortra, the doctor who loved to do Electroshock experiments with him.

 

Earl smirked at the doctor, and pointed the gun at him. “This is my ID. Now I'd like to see your files, please.”

 

To be continued......


	4. In which The entire Kent Family share certain truths with each other. Aka, Jitters Remix part Two

 

In the previous chapter:  
 _Earl was chuckling madly now. “You see...? I'm not crazy! They're doing some strange shit down here... I bet whatever they're doing here caused my illness!”_

 

_One of the scientists had the balls to come up to them, and ask: “Lex is authorized to be here, but you two are not. May I see your ID?”_

_Lex recognized him as Dr.Melhortra, the doctor who loved to do Electroshock experiments with him._

_Earl smirked at the doctor, and pointed the gun at him. “This is my ID. Now I'd like to see your files, please.”_

_===========================_

Dr. Melhortra gulped loudly, as he stared at the gun pointed his way. “Uh, it's right this way...sir.”  
  
With that, the group moved though out the secret level, all the way to the back where the files were being kept.

Earl wasted no time in rushing towards the cabinets, rifling though the files.

“what was it that exploded last time? Do you know?” Earl demanded to know as he looked though the files.

 

The dark skinned doctor just mumbled something about there being too many experimental fertilizers to keep track of them all.

 

Earl scoffed. “I like how you keep on calling it fertilizer when it's clear that it's more than that! Come on, just admit it.... you're experimenting on humans, turning them into monsters here! I bet this level is the source of all the weird stuff happening around Smallville that I've heard so much about.... all those people turning weird....”

 

Lex smiled at this. “You're almost right there. But I'm afraid that you've got it a little bit backwards. All the weird stuff happened before my father took over the plant.... he just simply seized the opportunity to study all the strange things here. To study the effects of the meteor rocks themselves since they were the one thing seemed to be the sole cause behind everything happening in Smallville.”

 

Chloe simply nodded at this as it merely confirmed her suspicions. Earl on the other hand, was highly skeptical.

 

Earl scoffed. “There's no way a bunch of space rocks could cause this! At the most radiation only causes cancer, they don't cause.... well, this! Your father probably just fed you that line in order to make himself look good... but most likely he's behind it all!”

 

Not wanting to upset Earl, Lex simply nodded. “If you say so.”

 

Earl then waved his gun around impatiently. He pointed at both the doctor and Chloe as he spoke. “Come on, help me look though those files. Look for anything that could have caused my illness! I have to find a cure for this...”

 

As the young girl rushed to help the doctor with the files, the gunman motioned Lex over.  
  
“It seems that you come down here a lot. Is there anything you can tell me about this place... what they do here? Anything you know will help me greatly.”  
  
Lex looked up at Earl. “Sorry, but I don't know much. I only come down here when my father want tests done on me... I mostly come here when they need to take my blood and stuff like that. I haven't really interacted with anybody else or with anything else besides the scientists on this level.”

 

Chloe perked up at this. She then started talking rapidly. “I knew it! Your illness is something weird right?? Otherwise your father wouldn't have hired so many doctors at your house.... or send you down here for tests!”

 

“Shut up and get back to the files!” Earl snapped. He then looked at Lex strangely. “You don't look sick.”

 

Lex smirked. “Neither do you.....save for the crazy gunman thing you have going on here. So I suppose appearances aren't everything.”

 

“So they're working on a cure for you down here?” Earl asked.  
  
Lex nodded. “Yes. And I have to assume that they're working on something for all the meteor mutants locked up in storage here too.”

 

Earl started to look ecstatic at this. “So they might have something to cure me too!”

 

Lex doubted that they had anything that would actually help Earl at all, but he couldn't bring himself to bust Earl's bubble. Earl just looked so happy and hopeful at this news, and Lex couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt for unintentionally giving the gunman false hope.

 

But hey, anything that helped get everyone out of here safely and quickly...

 

Earl then ordered Dr.Melhortra to narrow his searches down to some very specific files centering around Lex's cure and the cures for the other meteor mutants.  
  
The doctor shook his head, muttering under his breath about how he was going to get fired for this. However, he did as Earl demanded anyway.

 

They spent the next 20 minutes looking though the files, while Earl hovered over them asking more questions.  
  
Chloe was looking though Lex's files, and her eyes widened as she learned the truth.

 

“Oh man... Lex were in a coma for 12 years?!” She exclaimed out loud. She then looked over at Lex. “No wonder why you looked so tiny and frail when you arrived...you didn't get much exercise just lying around.”

 

She then frowned as she realized that the math was a little off here. “But wait, you're like 9 years old going on 10.... how could you be in a coma for 12 years?”

 

Lex sighed. “Well, as seeing you've found out, I might as well as tell you the rest.”  
  
He then sat down before continuing to tell her the rest. “I'm actually the original Lex Luthor.... I should be 21 years old by now.... but the meteor storm back in the late 80's put me in some sort of suspended animation that resembled a coma. My father honestly thought that I wouldn't wake up again after a long while there.... so he was surprised to not only find me awake one day, but that I actually had started aging at a rapid pace.”

 

Lex paused to see if Chloe would say anything. But when she didn't he then added, “so I'm aging way too fast, and it's been a real strain on my body... so my father's been trying to slow it down. So now you know.”

 

Earl scoffed. “You honestly expect us to believe that shi--”

 

Chloe let out a loud squeal, interrupting Earl. “Oh my gosh! I was so close.... I just knew you had to be the original some how since it was just too strange that Lionel would have a second son that looked exactly like his last one, and not only that but that they would have the same exact name. But I never imagined anything like this...”  
  
Lex smiled. “I'm definitely not a clone at all.”

 

Earl looked at the two kids in with a expression of puzzled disbelief, and he shook his head at how absurd-sounding this whole conversation sounded.

 

Dr. Melhortra cleared his throat, as he held up some files for Earl to see. “It would seem that we have files on what caused that explosion. It seems that some fool accidentally mixed the drugs meant for Lex with the experimental drugs for a Tina Greener. The drugs made for Lex was meant to inhabit his growth so that he could grow more normally like any other boy, if not stop his growth entirely. The drugs for Tina Greener was meant to lock her bones in place, so that she couldn't shape-shift. Both also had a large amount of meteor rocks in different colors. Seems that the different colors interact with each other in very unusual and highly violate ways. The other chemicals from the drugs only made that worse, which is what caused the explosion.”

 

Earl looked interested at this. “So is there a way to reverse this?”

 

Dr. Melhortra looked uneasy. “Um, this is not really my expertise at all... you would have to talk to the other scientists directly involved with this.”

 

With that statement, the group was then dragged back to where the other scientists were.

 

Dr. Melhortha was then forced to explain the entire situation to the rest of the scientists, sweating slightly as he felt the gun in his back.

 

The other scientists were understandably nervous at having been caught up in what seemed like a hostage situation... but there was a few amongst them who actually didn't seem all that bothered by the presence of a gun and were actually more interested in Earl Jerkin's symptoms.

 

After all, they've never had a normal human become meteor-infected in this way, and it would be highly interesting to see the results of that.

 

As the calm ones out of the group started chatting to Earl about his symptoms, the east Indian doctor turned to face Lex.

 

He sighed, and then asked the young boy: “What is your father going to think about this?? Jeez, I hope I don't get fired over this...”

 

Lex couldn't help but roll his eyes at this. “If he hasn't fired you for stupidly bragging to Mrs. Kent about your electroshock therapy treatments, then I doubt that he will fire you over this.”

 

The doctor nodded, feeling reassured by this.

 

All of a sudden, Clark appeared out of nowhere.

 

“Clark!” Lex grinned, running over to him.

 

Clark instinctively picked Lex up when the young boy ran over to him, and held him close. “Lex, are you alright?? What happened when I was gone?”

 

Chloe rushed over too, and she filled him in on everything that had occurred in the past hour.

 

Clark gaped at Lex when Chloe mentioned the bit about Lex sacrificing himself so that the other kids could get outside safely. “Lex! What were you thinking??”

 

Lex shook his head. “I wasn't sure when you were going to be back... so I couldn't take any chances. I did what I felt was the right thing. What about the gas leak??”

 

Clark answered, “I noticed that, and I had to turn off all the values above-ground before it would explode. That's when I went looking for you two afterward since you two weren't outside with all the other kids.”  
  
Clark looked around Level Three with a highly disturbed expression on his face. “They're actually experimenting on other people here?? I mean, you did imply that your father was doing this before but I never imagined anything like this...”

 

Lex smiled wanly. “Not a very nice looking place is it?”

 

Clark frowned. “Is any of this even legal?”

 

They were distracted by Earl when he let out a loud whoop of Joy.

 

“They're saying they might have a cure for my illness....” Earl explained, when he noticed that Clark was here. “They worked on retaining the power of the meteor mutants here and finding a way to return them back to normal. So.... they might be able to stop my illness too!”

 

The scientists standing by Earl simply nodded at this.

 

Clark blinked. So that was what they were doing here? He was still a little bit spiffy on the whole human experimentation thing, but if they were trying to return those people back to normal.... Then maybe it wasn't so bad? Still, it didn't seem like the meteor-affected wasn't here of their own consent...

 

While Clark was feeling conflicted over this whole issue, Earl was quickly being persuaded by the scientists to get some type of injection.

 

Chloe frowned at the men in the white lab coats. “Wait, you're gonna give him the injection, just like that? Don't you usually need to undergo animal testing or something like that before you use it on a human subject? At least according to FDA rules. From what you've been saying this substance of yours is only a week old. Who knows what it could do to a human...”

 

Earl growled. “No offense, but you have no idea what I'm going though right now! I don't give a fuck about FDA rules... all I want is for my jitters to stop, before I seriously kill somebody! For God's sake, my newborn son is in critical condition because of me...” With that, he started tearing up.

 

Dr. Melthora humphed. “It's always been in my personal opinion that animal testing really doesn't do anything other than give people a false sense of security. After all, what is toxic to an animal isn't always toxic for a human being. For instance, Humans can drink alcohol, but Alcohol can be deadly for dogs and cats. Are we going to tell people that they can't go to a bar because it's bad for animals? That's why I always thought the FDA was a completely moronic organization to start with!”

 

“Well, no... but still...” Chloe shook her head in disapproval at the doctor's comments.

 

Earl started to shudder, clutching at his head. “Dammit, it's started up again...”

 

The pavement around Earl actually started to crack, as the ground rumbled.

 

Dr. Melthora motioned at one of the scientists. “Quick! Go get the injection for Earl here right away before he causes some damage here!”

 

The East Indian doctor then coaxed Earl into moving towards a empty bulletproof glass cage, so that he wouldn't cause undue damage while he was having one of his episodes.

 

It was then Clark suddenly started feeling ill.

 

He looked around, and he quickly found the source. The scientists and the doctors were coming back with a large syringe filled to the brim with that appeared to be liquid green Kryptonite!  
  
“W-what are you going to do with that...?” Clark wondered, as he stumbled backwards away from the source of his discomfort.

 

They ignored Clark, and proceeded to inject Earl with the liquid green Kryptonite.

 

They then stepped back outside and closed the door on Earl.

 

Clark shook his head, saying: “That wasn't a cure at all! That was pure refined meteor rock you just pumped into him! Are you guys freakin' crazy?!”

 

Chloe's eyes widened at this. “WHAT?? is this true?” She turned to look at Dr. Melthora accusingly.

 

The doctor scoffed. “What, you think we could whip up a cure that quickly? Plus he was clearly a dangerous deranged man... at least this way we can at least observe the effect the meteor rocks have on a human!”

 

Inside the transparent cage, Earl was having the biggest seizure that the kids had ever seen. He was convulsing violently on the floor, his eyes rolled all the way back to his head. His veins were popping out all over the place, and looked to be a dark green color instead of the normal healthy red.

 

Clark rushed towards the cage and opened the door in an attempt to help Earl, but once he did this he was overcome with the same sick feeling from before. Lex rushed over and quickly closed the door before Clark could suffer anymore, and dragged him back away from the cage. It would seem that the cages were lined with something that kept them safe from the radiation of the rocks or something like that.

 

The rumbling grew louder and more violent, and it was now a full-blown earthquake.

 

“It would seem that it was a very bad idea, after all. Now, THAT.... is the sort of thing that my father might fire you for! Especially if Earl causes tons of property damage with his Earthquake powers.” Lex snapped at Dr. Melthora. The doctor just stammered at this.

 

One of the support pillars cracked, and then the ceiling around that area started coming down.

 

Clark quickly got to his feet, saying: “We should get everyone out of here! The whole place's coming down!”

 

The scientists all rushed out in a blind panic upon hearing this, leaving anybody behind to fend for themselves.

 

Chloe made to leave with Lex, but noticed that Clark was staying behind. “Clark, what are you doing? Didn't you say that this whole place was coming down??”

 

Clark gestured to the caged meteor mutants. “I just can't leave them behind! They'll die.”

 

Chloe shook her head. “There's too many of them here! You can't save them all!”

 

Lex then suggested: “What if we opened the cages together or something? There's only ten of them here, between the three of us we could free them all.”

 

Chloe paused at this. The ground started shaking some more, and so Chloe quickly nodded her head and started moving towards one of the cage. Clark grinned, and mirrored her actions.

 

The three of them rushed around, opening the cages. They tried to rouse some of the captives into fleeing, but most of them were too drugged out of their minds. So They were forced into dragging them out of the cages.

 

But just as Chloe feared, they didn't have much time and as the ceiling caved down on her she thought that this was it for her.  
  


But to her surprise, she found herself outside with Lex! What's more, almost all of the meteor mutants were outside with them, too. There was a blue-red blur swooshing in and out of the factory, which resulted in the appearance of more unconscious people.

 

The ground was still shaking. In a few seconds, a part of the factory literally just caved into itself, and then the earthquake stopped.

 

Clark reappeared next to her a few second later, looking pained. “I... I couldn't save Earl! Tina Greener's also dead. They got crushed under the rubble before I could save them.”

 

It was then Clark realized that he had just pretty much exposed himself in front of Chloe. He had gotten so used to not hiding things around Lex that he forgot that he couldn't do the same for Chloe.

 

'Oh crap!' Clark mentally cursed, as he noticed Chloe staring up at him with wide eyes.

 

“Uhhh.... Chloe...” Clark stuttered. Lex realized what was up, and jumped to his feet.

 

“Chloe, you can't tell anybody about Clark.” Lex said it, since Clark couldn't seem to bring himself to say it.

 

Chloe looked between the two of them, and she stared at Clark again. “Lex knew about you all along? Why didn't you tell me before??”

 

Clark stammered out a few denials just a little too late, and Lex cut in again. Lex pointed out, “You seriously have to ask that? Just take a look at yourself.... what do you do when you find out that somebody's a meteor mutant? You basically expose them on your wall of weird, and write it all about it in your newspaper.”

 

Chloe couldn't help but get mad at this. She angrily got up as she yelled something to the effect of: “What? I wouldn't do that to Clark! Besides, I haven't been doing those things without people's consent. Those people outed themselves to the general public, so it wasn't like I damaged their lives or anything like that!”

 

Lex smirked. “How so like a reporter...they justify their intrusive behavior too with that kind of logic. But just because some people made horrible choices when they had a lapse in their judgment, doesn't mean that they consent to having their entire life exposed like that. Tell me, did Lana ever consent to having that Times picture of herself being put up there? Have you ever asked her how she might feel about having one of the worst days of her life being constantly on display for all to see? Did you honestly ask any one of the other people how they would feel about being exposed as the new freak of the week?”

 

Chloe flushed angrily at those words, and could only splutter a few words very incoherently as she tried to think of a rebuttal that might make her sound good.

 

Clark stared at Lex. It was really amazing how a young boy like Lex was able to sum up everything Clark ever felt about that Wall of weird in a very concise way. However, he was upsetting Chloe and Clark really did not want that at all. After all, Chloe might do something rash when she was angry.

 

So Clark cut in before Lex could say anything more. “Chloe, please, listen to me! I know it was horrible of me to not trust you, considering that we're supposed to be friends. But... I just wanted to lead a quiet normal life despite my differences. You can understand this, right? So you can't tell anybody, okay?”

 

Chloe huffed at this, but she simply nodded. “I won't tell anybody, okay?”

With that, she stomped off.

 

“Where are you going?” Lex wondered.

 

Chloe rolled her eyes at this, and replied: “I'm going around to the front of the Factory, okay? I think the school group is outside there...”

 

She then frowned. “Shit, I hope my dad wasn't in that factory when that part of it caved in...”

 

With that, she hurried. Clark and Lex looked at each other, and ran after her.

 

They completely forgot about the drugged mutants lying on the ground behind them due to the fact that they were so adsorbed with whenever Chloe would actually tell anybody about what she saw or not.

 

Later on when Clark realized that he had forgotten about them due to his fears of being found out by Chloe, it would had been too late to do anything. for the mutants had taken this chance to leave the state entirely. They definitely did not want to get caught and get experimented on again!

 

Clark would meet them years later in his adventures as Superman, but that is a story for another day.

 

~~~~~~~~~~  
  
It was a complete media frenzy out in the front of the Factory, as they had been documenting the hostage situation and then the Factory cave-in. Almost nobody had noticed the newcomers coming in from behind the factory towards the front where everyone was.

 

Both Chloe and her father was very relived to see each other, once they found each other. They wouldn't let go of each other once they hugged, and they kept on crying out of relief that they were both okay after all.

 

The Kents had a similar reaction when they saw their son.

 

Lex stood back awkwardly in the background, watching the teenagers with their families. He briefly felt a pang of jealousy at seeing them like that, but he pushed it back.

 

After all, he knew that each family was different and there was no way that his father could ever be anything like the Kents or the Sullivans when it came to openly expressing his feeling for Lex.

 

He glanced over, and saw that Lionel Luthor was in the middle of a crowd full of journalists, and TV camera people. His father was in the element, talking about how thankful he was that none of his employees or their families had gotten seriously hurt today... and kept on prattling about the importance of family or something like that.

 

He hadn't noticed that Lex had actually gotten back unharmed yet. Or maybe he did and simply decided that it was more important to talk to the media first before getting around to Lex.

 

However... somebody else had noticed his presence.

 

“Hey. Lex, wasn't it? I see you got out safely... what happened to that whack-job?”

 

Lex turned around, and it turned out to be that Whitney person. His face was now all bandaged up, with a nose cast on his broken face. His jaw and neck was in some sort of cast too, so he could barely speak but he managed to get himself understood all the same.

 

“Oh... well, we managed to get away. We got outside using the back door of the factory, and came around here... This was before the factory caved in. pretty crazy how that earthquake occurred, huh? I didn't think we got earthquakes here at all...” Lex explained.

 

Whitney nodded. “Hey, listen... I just wanted to apologize for my friends' behavior back there. Especially in light of what you did for the entire class. I mean.... you weren't part of the class, right? And we were so shitty to you and your friend Clark... yet you went and gave up yourself as a hostage so that we all could get away. Uh, I have to say that was mighty big of you and all. It was cool.”

 

The Big Jock was kind of floundering there, his face getting a tad red as he couldn't figure out how to explain it in a eloquent manner.

 

Lex however knew what he was trying to get at. And he couldn't help but feel faintly embarrassed. “Oh, um... I only did what anybody else would have done, right? It's no big deal...You don't have to thank me or anything like that...”

 

Whitney looked down at the young boy, looking kind of quizzical. “You know, you're not what I thought you would be like... you're nothing like your old man.”

 

Before Lex could respond to that, he found himself engulfed in Martha's hug.

 

“Lex! I'm so glad you're alright.” Martha sobbed.

 

Lex was then promptly dragged into the Kent Family group hug.

 

“Yes, I'm fine...” Lex mumbled, feeling even more embarrassed at this public display of affection. He couldn't deny that it felt good though.

 

Whitney smiled at this, and headed for what appeared to be his family waiting around by some hospital truck.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
The teenage boy was happy to be in the embrace of his parents, but he pulled away. There was a few important things that they needed to know now. He had been holding back on a few secrets, such as what was happening to Lex all this time. He couldn't hide this anymore... at least not for Lex's sake.

  
Clark quietly filled his family on everything that had happened, all but the bit about Chloe knowing. This whole incident was stressful for his family as it was, and he didn't want to add to that at all. Plus, he had heard the speech about not letting anybody know a million times and he really did not want to hear it again!  
  
Jonathan looked over at Lionel Luthor, who were still strutting around like a peacock in front of the media reporters. He shook his head. “He's actually been experimenting on humans?? Jesus... I never thought highly of him to start with... but I never thought he could sink that low!”

 

Clark nodded. “The scientists all said that they were working on a cure for the mentor mutants, which isn't so bad in itself, I suppose. Still....the way they went about it gave me a bad feeling. I'm not sure half of what they did was legal. Plus, you know that doctor you told us about, Mom? He was working there too... so Lionel didn't fire him at all, just moved him out of the mansion.”

 

Martha looked shocked at this. “What?! But Lionel said he had fired him.... He promised that nothing like that would happen to Lex again.”

 

Clark looked troubled. “Lex told me a while ago that they had been doing weird tests on him with his father's knowledge and consent. I thought it had something to do with curing Lex's illness so I didn't say anything to you two earlier. But if that electroshock therapy doctor is there at the factory... I hate to think this but that doctor seemed to be waiting for Lex, like he was waiting to perform some sort of experiment on Lex. What if they've been doing strange stuff to Lex at the factory away where you and the other mansion staff couldn't stop it. ”

 

Jonathan seemed totally gobsmacked by this. Lionel Luthor experimenting on people was one thing... but to do that to his own 9-year-old son?? What kind of father would do that? It was almost unthinkable.

 

Martha looked like she didn't know whenever to be completely angry or grief-stricken over what was happening to Lex. She looked over at Lex, who were talking to somebody. The person looked like Whitney but she couldn't be sure because his face looked like it had been beaten to a pulp, then covered up with bandages and casts.

 

She impulsively rushed over to Lex and hugged him. She let out a few sobs, while saying: “I'm so glad you're safe now!”

 

She then took this chance to take a good look at Lex.

 

Right now, Lex looked like a normal young boy who was faintly embarrassed at having been hugged like that in public. He certainly didn't look like somebody who had gone though a series of illegal human experimentation. In fact he always looked like he was growing healthier and stronger each day. It almost made her want to believe that Clark was lying about the whole thing.

 

But then again there was different types of abuse that wasn't so easy to detect, and an abused child didn't always show up with things like bruises or scars. She still remembered when she first met Dr. Malthora... so she knew that Lex had been abused in the past by those so-called doctors. Plus, Clark was never the type to lie to his own family!  
  
She looked up, and her eyes met with Jonathan’s eyes. A silent message passed between them, and Jonathan nodded. She was doing to do everything in her power to try to stop this from ever happening again, and Jonathan would do his best to help her.

 

Jonathan came over, and gave Lex an hug too. Clark grinned, and decided to do the same. Within seconds Lex was now surrounded in a Kent Family group hug. Lex might not know what was going on here, but in that moment he was being inducted into the Kent Family unofficially.

 

Lionel Luthor would never know what hit him when she was done with him. After all, Nobody messed with her children and got away with it.

 

\------------------------------  
  
Chapter End of “Jitters remix.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, there it is. I wasn't exactly happy with the Jitters remix thing, as seeing some parts were sorta Rushed....  
>  But I really wanted an setup in which Clark would find out what Lionel really was doing and be disturbed enough to tell his parents about it too. 
> 
> Now all the Kents are on board in wanting to protect Lex from all kinds of harm. ^_^ Chloe is eventually going to play a big part in that too as well.  
>  Be sure to tell me what you thought about the Jitters remix chapters, so that I can improve on it and stuff.


	5. in which everyone is unhappy with current events....

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chloe is mad at Clark for insulting her, and talks it out with him. Meanwhile, Martha and Jonathan is thinking of how to gain custody of Lex without breaking any laws. Lionel Luthor has some unexpected and nasty surprises in store for Lex.

 

A week passed since the factory earthquake incident, and Chloe was in a foul mood.

For one thing, She realized that she hadn't really documented what actually happened at the factory, or had any proof of what really happened. So She couldn't write about the underground level in the factory like she wanted. All she could write about was the initial hostage situation itself and the earthquake. She couldn't even say the Earthquake was caused by Earl Jenkins, because again she had no actual proof of that. All she could write about was that Earl believed that the factory had created unsafe chemicals which his illness but that was it.

Of course Chloe could just write down everything that she heard and saw from start to finish regardless of the fact that she had no proof to back her up. But really, what kind of reporter did that? Even if it was the truth, without proof she would had been no better than those crazy tabloid reporters out there.... and others would have seen her that way too.  
  
And If Chloe was being honest with herself, then she would had admitted the whole reason why she was in a pissy mood was because of Clark and Lex.

After all, they questioned her integrity as a reporter!! Nobody ever did that at all before. Lex even went as to far to imply that she was like one of those tabloid reporters who invaded others' privacy and didn't care who they hurt as long as they got the story. Chloe wasn't like that at all.

Lex might be a cute kid, but he had no right to think so little of her. And what really hurt her, was the fact that Clark seemed to think the same thing of her. After all, they had been friends for more than five years now. Didn't that count for something? But apparently not, since he trusted a little kid who only recently came to town over her!!  
  
To make it worse, She actually had been planning a expose on Lex Luthor for a while now. She first thought of it when he arrived in Smallville and she noticed something unusual about him. But she couldn't do it now that she found out the truth about his origins. Why? Because If she did this right now, then she'd be only be proving Lex right, and Clark wouldn't trust her anymore!  
  
ARRGGH. It was really so frustrating sometimes!  
  
She stomped into the new coffee shop and then plopped on the nearest seat by the door. Lana appeared at her side with a bright sunny smile.  
  
“Welcome to the Talon! Can I get you anything?” Lana said in her best professional voice.  
  
Chloe's response was not what she expected at all. “Tell me, Lana, have I ever done anything without your consent? For example, that times cover of you up on the wall of weird. That doesn't make you uncomfortable or feel hurt, does it??”  
  
Lana blinked at this. “What brought this on?”  
  
Chloe scoffed. She then started ranting. “Oh, it's just Clark being stupid! And that rich little boy! You know what they said to me?? They said the reason why people wouldn't want to talk to me or be interviewed by me was because I didn't respect how they felt about things being exposed that they didn't want exposed. Can you believe that?? I mean, I don't barge in on people's private lives without their consent, right??”

 

Suddenly, it was all made clear to Lana. Chloe must had tried to interview the Luthor family, and tried to pressure Lex Luthor into giving up a few juicy tidbits. But Clark must had been there with Lex at the time and put an stop to it. Clark was like a bulldog protecting it's master when it came to Lex... it was really sweet, in a strange way.  
  
But that didn’t explain what it had to do with her. “Okay, I think I know what's going on here... You wanted to interview the Luthor family starting with Lex but Clark put a stop to that, right? But I don't see what that has to do with my picture on the wall...?”  
  
Chloe didn't even bother to correct Lana.... Lana didn't need to know that she knew some of the Luthor's secrets already and thus did not need a interview. She scoffed again. “Oh, it was something they said to me... They asked me if I had even asked you how you felt about being up there on the wall of weird. They used this against me, saying that I didn't care how people felt about being in my articles and all that Jazz.”  
  


Lana was fully touched by how much Clark (and Lex) cared about her feelings. She knew that Clark always had something of a crush on her.... but she had no idea how much he truly cared about her emotional well-being. Clark was just so sweet. But of course she had Whitney to think of so naturally she had to be careful not to lead Clark on when she thought of some way to reward him for being so considerate.  
  
Lana made an affirmative noise, indicating that she understood completely. “So you want the truth about how I feel?”

 

Chloe nodded at this. Lana's lips started to tremble, as she looked up at Chloe with large dewy eyes.  
  
“To tell you the truth... it's always bothered me. Sometimes I'm reminded of my parents' tragic death everywhere I go, and School needs to be a place where I can get away from that for a while. You understand, right? When I see that picture, It's as if I flashback to that terrible day with full clarity....” Her eyes misted up, and she bit her lips as to hold herself back from crying outright.  
  
Chloe couldn't help but feel slightly amused by Lana's reaction. Lana really knew how to work that Drama Princess thing she had going for her, that was for sure. Plus, She found a way to talk about her dead parents YET AGAIN without it detracting away from the conversation.... one of Lana's favorite hobbies.

 

But it was really unhelpful. She wasn't still sure whenever Lana was actually hurt by her putting up the picture. Or if Lana was putting on an act for attention or something.... after all, Lana was kind of like that. Still, she didn't want to seem like a unrepentant asshole by keeping it up there.  
  
“Oh, Gee, I'm so sorry. Tell you what, I can take down that picture of you and give it to you? After all, I don't want to have something like that up without your consent. Next time, if I ever do anything that disturbs you, I'd like to know about it. I know we haven't always gotten along sometimes, but I still value your opinion.” Chloe did her best to look sympathetic.

 

Ha! Take that, Clark and Lex! If She was really just a shallow reporter only after a big story would she be doing this?? She didn't think so!  
  
Lana gave her a quivery smile, as she dried her eyes. “You would really do that for me? Oh, thank you very much!”

 

Chloe smiled, nodding at this. “So... about that coffee?”   
  
Lana giggled. “Oh yes, that's right. I forgot for a second that I was actually working! How silly of me.” With that she pranced away.  
  
Chloe quietly scoffed at this, wondering how the heck Lana was ever going to keep up running a coffee shop when she actually forgot that she was working. Clearly, Lionel and Nell was the ones who were working hard keeping it running behind the scenes.  
  
Now that she had a good look around the newly renovated Talon, Chloe could see much of Nell and Lionel's taste in the décor. Or at least, what she thought was according to their taste.  
  
Everything was done in that fancy posh style, with dark earth tones and red velvet on all the chairs and curtains. It basically looked like a coffee shop for the rich. She was sure that Lana would had probably done everything in the pink frilly style or something else equally silly. It was just as well that Lionel put his foot down when it came to things like letting Lana have free reign of the decorating.

“Um, Chloe?” A tentative male voice called out to her. She turned her head, and saw Clark coming towards her. And of course Lex was with him!  
  
“What do you want, Clark?” Chloe asked, sounding highly annoyed.  
  
“Well.... Um....” Clark seemed at a loss at what to say here.  
  
“If you're here to apologize to me, then I'd like to hear it. Otherwise, I'm not talking to you!” Chloe told him. Clark seemed puzzled by this. He then replied: “But...what are you so mad about exactly?? I mean, you understand why I didn't want you to tell everyone everything about what you.... well, you know. Right?”  
  
Chloe shook her head. “Man, you are really clueless when it comes to women, don't you? Here's a pro tip when it comes to dealing with a certain lady with whom you've been good friends for at least five years now-- you don't tell her that you basically think that she's some kind of sleazeball who would do anything for a quick buck. Like those goddamned tabloid reporters who would sell their own grandmothers if it meant that they would get to front page everywhere! That basically implies that you think the whole friendship was basically nothing but a farce because you can't trust her!”

Clark flinched at this, while Lex just stood in the back looking mildly amused.  
  
“Oh come on, that's not fair... I never said anything like that. I know Lex said something like that, but you have to cut him some slack here. He comes from a rich family and so they're bound to have unfavorable views on the media itself thanks to being hounded by them all the time. You know what I mean?” Clark paused before saying the next part. “But I personally don't think you're anything like that, okay?” Clark pleaded with Chloe, giving her his best puppy eyes.

Chloe couldn't stay mad at Clark very long, especially when he gave her the puppy dog eyes like that. But still she couldn't let her resolve and anger fade away that easily!

However, Lex helped smooth out things between them as he stepped forward.

“Um, if it helps, I apologize for what I said. I just wanted you to think of how it would affect Clark if you went around blurting out stuff for all to hear. You've seen what my father does to....well, people. Imagine what other people besides my father could do if they found out about....well, you know.” Lex looked around to make sure nobody was listening in on them in the coffee shop as he said the last part.

Chloe honestly didn't think about it like that.

She certainly had seen all that weird stuff, but all the scientists had said something about curing people of their meteor-infected illness, so it hadn't seemed so bad at first. Sure, there was the fact that Lionel Luthor was hiding this lab under a crap factory that made it both weird and creepy. And then there was the bit with the meteor rocks that made the whole thing cross over into completely illegal territory here.  
  
So if Lionel was willing to do illegal inhumane stuff on mutated human beings, there might be other people out there who would be willing to do that same thing legally.... like maybe the government? After all, the American government had been known to do questionable things until they got called out on it.

 

All of a sudden, Clark's reaction made more sense.  
  
Some of Chloe's anger faded away. She sighed. “Alright, take a seat by me. You two look like dorks just standing there!”

 

Clark gave her a brilliant smile, and the two young men moved to sit besides her.

 

Chloe then sniffed. “You're still not off the hook yet, you know. You should had trusted me...we're supposed to be friends after all! Later on, you got to tell me everything... even why you choose to tell Lex before you told me. I promise it'll be off the records and everything.”  
  


Clark gave a quiet sigh at this. “Um, okay...”  
  
“Yo, what's up with you people?” Pete came over to the table, and took a seat.  
  
“Well, well... looks like towel boy finally decided to rejoin us!” Chloe smirked.

 

Pete couldn't help but roll his eyes at this. “I can't help it if I have a duty to the football team, okay??”

 

“Towel boy?” Lex looked puzzled at the nickname.

 

Clark looked down at him and explained: “Oh, Pete tried to join the football team a while ago... he didn't make the cut because he was too much of a freshman or something... so He decided to be their water and towel boy until next year when he could give it another shot. It's part of the reason why we haven't been seeing him around lately.”

 

“ah.” Lex felt that he didn't need to say anything else, and so just sat there quietly as the three friends around him started chattering about school and such.  
  


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  
Jonathan shook his head, as he sat down at the kitchen table. “You know... it's been a week since the factory incident, and not once have Lionel came by to check on his son or demand that he come back home.”  
  
Martha nodded, as she bought over coffee. She started speaking as she poured the coffee into their mugs, “I know, it seems really odd. But in a way I'm relieved. It's given me time to think of how to keep Lex here indefinitely without breaking any laws that could land us in jail.”  
  
Jonathan looked up. “Any ideas so far?”  
  
Martha sighed. “None. I'm really stumped. I thought of going to the authorities about my suspicions regarding child abuse, but.... that might just take Lex away from all of us.”

 

Jonathan shook his head. “I still can't get over the fact that Lionel wouldn't come rushing over to see if his son was okay. I mean, I know he was doing awful things like experimenting on his son, which I don't approve of. But that could had been excused if Lionel did that because he actually loved his son in some warped way, and were trying to save him. But his actions certainly don't point to that...So it makes me wonder just WHY he would do that. All that does is add one more reason for me to hate the bastard.”  
  
Martha sat down, and wrapped her fingers around her hot mug. “I've been noticing something strange about Lex the past months when I was taking care of him. And I couldn't help but try to dig into his past. It was then I realized something.”  
  
Her husband then asked. “And that is?”  
  
“You remember Lionel's first son, right? The one we helped get to the hospital during the meteor storm?”

 

Jonathan frowned. It hadn't amounted to much, since that poor boy fell into an coma and didn't wake up again. He had actually felt so sorry for Lionel during that time, and Lionel used his sympathies to play him like a fiddle. Just thinking about it made his blood boil.  
  
“Well, When Lex arrived here, he looked exactly like that little boy from all those years ago. It was as if he was a exact clone.... and what's more, they have the same exact names. I checked all the pictures and records just to make sure.”  
  
Jonathan looked at Martha, shocked. “You think he's a clone??”

 

Martha shrugged. “Do you have any other explanations? And when you think about it, it all fits into place. Lionel most likely only sees him as a replacement for his lost son, and that's why he's not as invested in him emotionally. And it would probably explain his odd growth... we've been brushing it off as some sort of early puberty, but he's been growing too fast for that. Heck, he looks like he's almost Clark age now. So him being a clone just makes sense...”

 

Jonathan just didn't know what to think about that. It just made too much sense.

 

He recalled the first day he had met Lex all those months ago.

Back then, he had been fully prepared to hate any of Lionel's spawn. After all, any son of Lionel's had to be sneaky, manipulative, and downright spoiled rotten in the worst way possible. Jonathan often pictured some kind of terrible child, like those creepy children that you saw in horror movies or something like that.  
  
So he hadn't expected it when Clark came home carrying a frail-looking bald boy who looked tiny in his arms. Clark was a large boy for his age, so that kind of led to the illusion that Lex looked like a five-year-old instead of looking his age.  
  
Lex had looked at him with those large, solemn eyes and the way he clung to Clark as if he was unsure of the whole world....  
  
Let's just say in that moment Jonathan could understand why Martha seemed so taken with this young boy, even though he wasn't sure if they could trust one of Lionel's offspring. So despite his initial misgivings, he decided that he would be at least polite towards the boy.

 

After all, a little boy like that was hardly going to be a threat to his family.   
  
Over the months, he had been relieved to see that he hadn't been wrong in letting Lex hang around the Kent Homestead. Lex acted like a normal, personable little boy instead of being an spoiled brat. It was actually kind of cute the way Lex seemed to look up to Clark like a big brother. It was something Jonathan had contributed to Lex living alone with his mother until Lionel discovered him. All that time without Lionel being there for Lex had to be good for the little boy, right? After all, Lionel couldn't had much effect on how a kid like that was raised if he never knew about Lex until after the death of Lex's mother.

 

And now he found out that Lex might not even have a mother... that he might had been cloned in a test tube or something. Jonathan couldn't help but wonder if Lex had all of the older son's memories, or if he was basically a new person with his own memories. Maybe it even was a combination of the two, and that's why Lionel couldn't be bothered with his creation at all.

 

It was honestly almost too much for Jonathan, when he thought about it all. In fact the whole thing sounded like a cheesy scifi plot. And this was coming from somebody who had raised an adopted son from another planet.

 

Jonathan started chuckling, and then broke out in loud laughter.

 

Martha looked startled at first and then looked confused. “Care to share with me what's so funny?”  
  
Jonathan shook his head and said between laughs, “I … was just thinking.... that this sort of thing.... could only happen in Smallville. It wouldn't really happen anywhere else. I mean, We have an alien son and Lionel a son cloned from his dead son. And everyone else most likely have meteor mutants for children. It's like a bad scifi show around here.”

 

Martha just smiled at this. “That does sound ridiculous. Life's really funny sometimes, huh?”

 

With that, both of them started giggling.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Two days later, both Jonathan and Martha discovered the reason why Lionel hadn't come around to collect his son.  
  
For Lionel showed up on their footsteps with another son!  
  
“My apologizes for having you take care of my son Lex for so long. I had to oversee the incident with the factory, and determine if it could be salvaged, which took me longer than I thought it would take. And on top of it, I discovered that I had another son... I suppose I should be more careful in the future with any of my private liaisons so that I don't get any more surprises like this, eh?” Lionel chuckled at the end of his little speech.

 

When the Kent couple didn't say anything, Lionel then replied: “Oh, how rude of me. Let me introduce you to him.”

 

With that, Lionel motioned the other man to come forward. As the guy came forward, Jonathan was able to take a better look at him.

 

Lucas was an adult, and around Clark's height. His hair was highly similar to Lionel's in color save the fact that unlike his father, He choose to have it cropped short with some blonde highlights. His face looked similar to Lex Luthor's, so there was no doubt that they were brothers. There were differences though. His face was more square and his eyes a gray color. As he walked towards them, he gave off an highly arrogant air that just rubbed Jonathan the wrong way.

 

Jonathan just knew that this was the type of guy you couldn't trust at all.

 

“This is Lucas Luthor, my son. I hope you'll treat him well as you have treated my other son Lex.”

 

Martha let out a weak smile at this. “Nice to meet you, Lucas.” She said very politely.  
  
Jonathan didn't even bother to acknowledge the man, and instead focused on Lionel.

 

“So you're saying that you didn't even bother to check on your son to see if he was okay because of this? Even if you knew that Lex had been inside the factory during the hostage situation, and possibly had been inside when the factory caved in? My God, he really needed you after such a horrible experience. I find it hard to believe that you would actually find the factory more important than your own son.”

Lionel bristled at being treated like this, especially in front of Lucas. “If you're implying that I don't love my son, you're wrong. I can't help it if somebody in my position has different priorities to deal with. After all, a farmer like you wouldn't understand what it's like to run a factory. Besides, do you let your crops and your farm suffer when Clark is sick or injured? Or do you solider on, so that the farm will be always there for your family?”

 

Lionel then smirked. “Judging by the fact that you seem to be in the red all the time, it would seem that you foolishly place value in your family's emotional well-being instead of your work.“

 

Jonathan seethed, wanting to hit Lionel for that low blow. His hands were already in fists, and the only thing that stopped him from attacking Lionel outright was a calming hand on his shoulder.  
  
He turned to look at Martha, and she shook her head.

Lucas were watching this interaction between all of them with interest, a slight smirk on his face.  
  
It was then Clark ran around the corner of the barn, carrying Lex piggyback-style. Lex was clinging on with all his might, and laughing loudly. Clark was beaming and seemed to be enjoying himself too.  
  
They came to an sudden stop when they saw the group out in front of the house.

 

“Oh... Hi. What's going on?” Clark's smile faded when he saw them outside.

 

Lex quickly slid off Clark's back the minute He saw his father. He didn't want his father to lecture him about acting too undignified, after all.

  
Lionel grinned when he saw Lex, and spread his arms wide as he said: “Lex, my boy! I want you to meet somebody.”

 

Lionel then gestured at Lucas. “This young man is your brother, Lucas Luthor. He'll be living with us from on now, and helping me manage the factory.”

 

Lex stared at the two of them, completely stunned by the revelation that he had a brother. “He's... my brother? I have siblings??”

 

Lucas rolled his eyes, and he looked at his father. “Oh come on. You didn't tell him anything before we came over?”

 

Lex didn't know what to do, because he was overwhelmed with conflicting emotions at this news. So he did the first thing he could think to do—he ran into the house and straight into Clark's bed. It was currently the most comforting place to be, after all.

 

He heard Clark call out his name but ignored it as he rushed into the house. The last thing he had heard before he slammed the doors behind him: “You see, this is why you tell your children things instead of telling them at the last minute. Now my little brother is probably going to be unsure about me.”

 

Meanwhile, Lucas were now eying Clark. He took in Clark's handsome features with a predatory eye, and he smirked as he turned to Lionel. “Well... it does look like staying here in this town will be more interesting than I thought.”  
  
Jonathan noticed the way Lucas were looking at his son, and he couldn't help but growl. That man definitely wasn't to be trusted. He glared at the two Luthors, and replied “I think you two should be leaving now.”

Lionel smirked. “Oh, certainly.... after we fetch Lex, that is. I didn't come over here for a mere social visit, you see. I think it's high time that my son comes home.... he's been staying here far too long. After all, we do need my children to be familiar with each other. And Lex cannot become acquainted with his brother if he stays here all the time, can he?”  
  
“I, um.... I'm going to check up on Lex.” Clark mumbled, as he moved towards the house.  
  
Martha finally spoke. “Are you sure about this, Lionel? After all, Lex was though a very traumatic experience not too long ago. Going home to all those doctors who throws a barrage of tests at him, could be way too stressful for a little boy who experienced a dangerous hostage situation. Wouldn't it be better for him to remain in a calming environment?”

 

Lionel looked puzzled. “ I know, that was the reason why I allowed him to remain here with you. However... I think he's been given enough time to recover from his ordeal, don't you?”

 

Martha gave it her best final attempt. “That doesn't address the problem of those doctors, however. Don't you realize that those continuous testing, blood drawing, and all those other things that they do could be stressful on a young boy?”

 

Lionel sighed. “We're back to that old argument, I see. Very well, if it makes you feel better about it, I've dismissed a large majority of the doctors. I decided that their time was better spent working in an actual laboratory looking for the cure instead of staying at my home. Only two will stay on to help me look after Lex from now on.”

 

Martha realized that she truly had no excuse to keep Lex here forever. She wasn't able to come up with anything good in the past week that could help keep Lex here, and now she still couldn't think of anything last-minute to keep him here.

 

Feeling defeated, She sighed. “Very well, I'll go pack some of his things.”

 

“Martha.” Jonathan said her name, with a mildly shocked expression on his face. Surely she wasn't going to give in to Lionel just like that, not after what they had decided together?

 

“Jon, we can't keep him here forever. Not when Lionel is still legally his father.” Martha replied, and with that, she walked into the house.  
  
Jonathan walked in after her.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Lex was sniffling, trying to not cry as he hid under Clark's blankets.  
  
The sound of footsteps came up the stair, and the door opened. As the door closed, Clark's voice tentatively spoke. “Lex? Are you alright?”

 

Lex shook his head, as he burrowed deeper into Clark's bed.

 

Clark sat down besides him. “I know it must be a huge shock to find out that you have a brother. But isn't this supposed to be a good thing? Maybe he could love you in ways that your father don't...?”

 

Lex's head popped out from under the blankets, and he looked at Clark. He then explained what he was thinking currently.

 

“I know that... but.... did you notice how old he was? He's almost older than the age I'm supposed to be if I hadn't fallen into that coma. I mean, think of when Lionel was last married. He was married to Lillian Luthor right? But Lucas' age and the fact that Lillian couldn't had given birth to him... it meant that Lionel cheated on her!” Lex then rolled around, so that he was facing away from Clark. “was my father leading a double life, having two families? Did he did that because he was disappointed with the first family he had?”

 

Clark frowned. Lex wasn't making much sense to him.... but it was clear that Lex was clearly upset. So he did the only thing he could think of in this situation. He crawled into his bed with Lex, and moved them around a little bit so now that the two of them were snuggling under the blankets.

 

He wrapped his arms around Lex's small frame, and started rubbing Lex's back. “Shh. It's okay.”

 

Lex leaned into the warm contact. He then mumbled into Clark's chest. “I don't want to go back, anyway. I'd rather stay here than go back to all those doctors and stuff.”  
  
Clark hugged him tighter, and then kissed Lex on the top of his head. “I know. But he's your father, so what can we really do?”

 

It was then Martha appeared at the door. She frowned, having overheard the last two parts of the conversation.

 

So even Lex seemed to know that he fared better here than at home. Why couldn't Lionel see this at all? Then again, what with what he was doing to his own son he most likely didn't even care.

 

She opened the door, and smiled when she saw that Clark and Lex was cuddling. Her smile faded when she saw Lex's tear-stained face.

 

She sat down besides them, and said in a regretful tone: “Your father wants you back home, Lex. So you might have to go pack some of your things now.”

 

Lex then sat up. “Couldn't you talk to him about letting me stay here a while longer? Please?”

 

Martha sighed. “I already tried.... believe me, I tried my best.”

 

Lex's shoulders slumped at this. He then crawled out of bed and walked towards the door.

 

Both mother and son looked at each other unhappily, both wishing that there was something they could have done.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The ride back to the mansion was awkward as hell for Lex.

 

For one thing, he wasn't sure that he liked his big brother at all.... Lucas reminded Lex of their own father way too much for his own comfort. So therefore sitting in a limo with both Lucas and Lionel was like dealing with a double dosage of something unpleasant.

 

Especially when Lucas wouldn't shut up about how backwards this tiny town was.  
  
“Seriously though, you could do better than to set up shop in a backwards town like this. So why here?” Lucas asked.

 

“All shall be revealed in due time, son.” Lionel replied, as he poured himself a scotch from the limo's mini cabinet. He then sat back holding his drink. “You'll find that the residents here has a special....obliviousness when it comes to strange activity. They especially go out of their way to ignore it, pretending that everything is always normal and that if anything was happening it wouldn't be any of their business anyway. Even the police here are like that! You just don't get that anywhere else.”

 

Lucas started chuckling. “So I suppose this is your own way of admitting you have something illegal going on here? I have to say I'm surprised.... I honestly started to think you were nothing but a boring corporate guy. But I guess even a guy like you need to do something risky once in a while. It gets the blood pumping, doesn't it?” He then actually nudged Lionel, winking conspiratorially.

 

Lex sighed, shaking his head at this.  
  
Lucas then looked thoughtful. “I suppose it's not all bad here... is any of the Smallville residents as pretty as the one back there? If so, it might not be as boring as I thought....”

 

Lionel raised his eyebrows, looking at his second son. “Clark Kent is currently 14 years old... although I heard his 15th birthday is coming up soon. The age of consent is 16 in this state. So If you get caught with your pants down, you're on your own.”

 

Lucas blinked, surprised at the farmboy's actual age more than anything else. “No way in hell he's only 14! Seriously, look at the guy..... I would have thought that he was like 18 years old or something.” He then shrugged. “Oh, well.... he's still hot.”

 

Lex felt a possessive rage building up within him. He burst out yelling at Lucas: “You stay away from Clark Kent! HE'S MINE, YOU CAN'T HAVE HIM!”

 

Lucas were momentarily startled by Lex's outburst, but then started laughing. He then smirked at the young boy. “Oh yeah? Do a little boy like you even know what to do with a man like that? I'm sure he would appreciate what a real man can teach him better than he would you.”

 

Lex glared at Lucas, deciding right there and then that he really, really hated Lucas. He was just such a jerk!

 

Lionel smiled at this interplay between his two sons. It would seem that the rivalry between them was already starting up, just like he wanted. Although he was a little surprised that Clark Kent was the trigger for their rivalry.

 

Still... he was thankful all the same. Clark certainly saved him the time and effort of pitting the brothers against each other.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Lex got another unpleasant surprise at the mansion, much to his annoyance. Apparently, his new sex-education teacher was here...and something about her made him really uncomfortable.  
  
Maybe it had to do with the fact that Maria was a redhead, just like Martha and his mom. However, Maria Mead did not have that motherly look about her despite having a face and hair that reminded him way too much of his mom. She was dressed to the nines in something that could only be described as fetish wear. It was a shiny pvc dress, with an corset over the dress that only served to accentuate her large breasts. Her extremely high heels added to her height, making her look even more intimidating and severe.  
  
“Darling!” Maria Mead greeted Lionel with wide arms, and hugged him as if he was a old friend that she hadn't seen in forever. She kissed him on the cheek, and murmured something about renewing their old contract.

 

Lionel shook his head. “As much that truly tempts me, I do have to keep up appearances around here, especially now that I'm dating one of the locals. I have to play the faithful boyfriend or else-wise I'd get in trouble. No, you'll have to stick with teaching my youngest son here.”

 

With that, Lionel pushed Lex toward Maria. Lex looked up at the woman, unsure what to say.  
  
Maria then bent over to examine Lex, showing off her large breasts in the process. Lex tried to look away, but she held Lex's face in her hands. She then smiled. “Well, aren't you a sweet darling thing. I'm sure we're going to have so much fun together!”  
  
Lucas whistled, and then mumbled under his breath about how Lex was one lucky son of a bitch to be getting a sexy teacher like that.  
  
Lex didn't feel lucky at all. All he could think about the fact that this woman was clearly just one of the many women his father had been involved with. And Lionel actually wanted her to teach him all about sex-related stuff? Worse, He recalled his father saying something about how he had wanted Lex to experience sex with this teacher.

Even though Maria Mead's personality and manner was nothing like Lillian's, Maria still resembled his dead mom way too much for Lex's comfort. He didn't want to lose his virginity while being constantly reminded of his mother... the whole thing just seemed wrong on so many levels!

Lionel frowned when Lex didn't say anything, and nudged him. “Well, is that any way to greet your new sex-education teacher? Don't be rude, son.”  
  
Lex let out a weak smile. “Uh, it's nice to meet you Ma'am....”  
  
The woman giggled. “Oh, call me Mistress Maria, please. Ma'am makes me feel so old!”  
  
Lex grimaced internally at this. “Um, I have to put my suitcase away.... I'm sure you need to do the same thing after a long trip...”  
  
With that he rushed off towards his bedroom upstairs before his father or brother could stop him.

  
Lex got the feeling that it was going to a very long week.....  
=========================================================================

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, Lucas is coming into the picture much earlier than in Canon, but I thought it made sense that Lionel would had seeked him out much earlier than he did when Lex was in that coma. Also the introduction of a OC (oringal character) was totally necessary in order to advance the plot the way I wanted it to go. 
> 
> Be sure to tell me what you think, and feel free to correct me with any mistakes you see as seeing I do not have a beta at all.


	6. Nicodemus Flower Episode Remix Part one--In which the boys explore their sexuality.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This Chapter in a nutshell-- First, we see how the major players of Smallville react to the appearance of Maria and Lucas. Secondly, Clark is apparently bisexual, but is in total denial over it. He just wants to be normal, damn-it! Thirdly, Everyone seems to be acting out of character.... what the heck is with those weird flowers??

It was certainly a very long week, alright. It was a tedious week which morphed into an even longer month!

His new-found brother seemed intent on testing Lex's patience and temper, often needling him with details that Lucas knew would get under Lex's skin.

Details like how Lionel had apparently known about Lucas a long time, despite what he had told the Kents. Lucas said that Lionel found him a few years after Lex had fallen into that coma. And not only that, but Lionel had raised Lucas in secret after fishing him out of the foster system at the age of 10.

He also insinuated that he was to be Lionel's heir, not Lex. That Lex was just a freak that they were experimenting on and who would be left with nothing.

Personally, Lex felt that Lucas were only trying to hurt him out of pure insecurity. After all, Lucas didn't seem to be highly confident about his standing with the Luthor family.... it seems that Lionel had been all too keen on constantly reminding Lucas that he was actually a bastard child. Something about how Luthorcorp's company policy demanded that any heir was supposed to be legitimate, and not born out of wedlock.

Lucas had been secure in his position when Lex was out of commission, thinking it didn't matter that he was a bastard child as long as no “legitimate” child existed. But his inheritance is threatened now that Lex was back in the picture.

Personally, Lex didn't care about any of that tripe and wished that he would be left alone! He was just so sick and tired of all the verbal bullying that Lucas was doing to him. He had even tried to tell Lucas this, but Lucas didn't seem to believe him.

If this was what all siblings were like, then he would be way too happy to go back to being an only child!

But he had to look on the bright side here. Going back home hadn't been as bad as he feared, because there was actually fewer people around here than usual. The two remaining doctors didn't even poke and prod at him like so many others had. They were just around to monitor his growth and health.

It also helped that Martha was now at his side more often whenever she could, and she had been a source of strength for him to draw from whenever Lucas were bullying him. Clark stopped by all the time too after school was out for the day, just so that he could see how Lex was feeling.

Lex got the feeling that both of them were worried about something happening to him, which made him curious as to what they thought would happen. Not that he minded it... it was just nice to have somebody care about him like this.

Then there was his new teacher. Maria Mead hadn't been as bad as he had feared at first. 

Much to his relief, she did not want sexual relations with him right away. She was actually serious about being a teacher to Lex first before becoming his “mistress”. Something about ensuring that he had an proper sex-education before he got into the actual sex part. However, Lex still had no intention of doing anything with her at all, even in the far future. So Lex hoped that this kind of education would take years....giving him enough time to get out of this unpleasant situation.

That aside, she actually had some pretty interesting things to teach him. It was just basic biology classes, talking about the bodily functions and things like that. She had a plastic model of a human being that you could take apart, which showed plastic organs on the inside. It was kind of cool!

Maria said that it would take a few more weeks before they got into the more comprehensive sex-ed stuff. She felt that it was important for Lex to know the inner workings of the body first before he would learn about things like safe sex, as the two were apparently linked. Something to do with how the body changed for the purpose of reproduction.

~~~~~~~  
Both Nell and Martha wasn't a huge fan of Maria, for different reasons.  
~~~~~~~

Nell had taken one good look at her, and in that fake cheery way of hers, had asked if she could see Lionel in private. There had been a fair bit of shouting behind closed doors. And considering that Nell's shrill voice easily carried out to the hallway, Lex knew the reasons why Nell didn't like Maria.

Apparently, Nell was convinced that Maria had used her sexual appeal to get hired as Lex's teacher. So of course she yelled at Lionel for letting himself get blinded by Maria's feminine charms, as she put it. She was unaware of the fact That Lionel had came to Maria first, not the way around, and of their past together.

She was completely put off when Lionel said that he wouldn't fire Maria. Nell then became convinced that there was only three possibilities occurring here:  
1) Maria was using her powerful sexual charm, completely overriding Lionel's common sense to the point that he wouldn't even listen to his own girlfriend! She may even be out to steal Lionel away from Nell, becoming his new girlfriend.  
2) Lionel was cheating on her with Maria, and not even bothering to hide it that much... thus treating Nell like some kind of fool.  
3) Maybe even a combo of the two above!

Of course, Nell had too much pride to deal with that kind of bullshit... and had issued an ultimatum-- Lionel better fire Maria and make her leave Smallville forever, otherwise Nell was going to walk out that door and never come back.

At that moment you could see how Lana Lang and Nell Potter was related-- Nell was successfully channeling Lana's “wounded princess” act! She had everything down pat-- the trembling lips, teary eyes and acting as if the entire world had ended personally for her.

Lionel had to do a lot of “fancy talking” as the Smallville citizens around here put it, to mollify Nell somehow without firing Maria. Lionel wound up proposing to Nell, saying that Nell was the only woman he had eyes for, and that Maria was nothing to him. It was particularly lucky for Lionel that he had happened to order some nice diamond rings before hiring Maria.... almost as if he had planned for this possible outcome.

It had made it seem like Lionel had been planning to pop the question all along, long before Maria even came on the scene. That had helped settle some of Nell's fears, although it did not fully address some of the issues she had with Maria. Lionel then had made some offhand comments about worrying about Lex's sexuality.

When Nell asked Lionel about that... Lionel then said he was worried that Lex might turn out to be gay, knowing fully how much Nell felt about homosexuality. Nell had been shocked, because how could a 9-year-old boy be gay?? After all, to her homosexuality was a choice, and a sick, perverted choice at that. For little kids to choose to be gay... it was just bizarre!

Lionel then had acted the part of the worried parent perfectly, implying strongly that Lex hadn't always had the best influence growing up without him. That his mother had some gay friends who could had influenced Lex. Nell looked stunned and sickened at this, unable to image how any mother could let her kids be around gay people like that! It was just as well that Lex's mother died and allowed for Lionel to take custody of Lex!

Lionel then told her the partial truth, that Maria wasn't there for him... but rather for Lex. That Maria was an expert on controlling sexuality, and that her risque outfits was intended to get Lex interested in the female form. And that's why he couldn't fire Maria, because Maria had been hired to turn Lex fully heterosexual.

Nell found it strange that a grown woman would be hired to act sexual towards a 9-year-old boy. However if what Lionel told her was true and correct, then she could understand why he felt that he had to do that. After all, it would be horrible for somebody so young to become a hardcore pervert. Nell then pondered that maybe it was the reason why Lex's mother had gotten sick.... she had to be a pervert too, to have gay friends like that. And then had passed her sickness on to Lex. The poor boy.

However, Nell was still sure that Maria was out to seduce Lionel too. She just hoped that her new engagement ring would make Maria think twice.... and of course, she had to move into the mansion to keep an eye on both Lionel and Maria!

Lana Lang was old enough to take care of the horses and the potter house by herself now, anyway.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Martha had noticed the rivalry between Maria and Nell. However, she didn't really care if Lionel was two-timing or not, and she wasn't much for gossip. Besides, the other people at the mansion was already doing their bit in gossiping about the “war” between Nell and Maria. They also had spread that tidbit to the rest of the town. So her doing the same thing would had been just superfluous to start with.

And if she was completely honest with herself... a small part of her felt that it was Karma teaching Nell a lesson. After all, Nell had often shamelessly flirted with Jonathan, even in front of Martha! Jonathan and Nell had been high school sweethearts, you see. Somehow Nell felt this gave her the right to flirt with a married man, and this had aggravated Martha to no end.  
It was one of the reasons why she had been so pleasantly surprised to find out that Nell was dating Lionel Luthor... it had finally stopped Nell from sniffing around after her husband like a bitch in heat. Also, Nell had seemed like a good match for Lionel. Considering the fact that she liked rich, showy things and often manipulated others into doing whatever she wanted. Just take a good look at Lana for example. Nell had taught Lana to get the things she wanted by acting like the town princess, or an damsel in distress.

It was one of the reasons why Martha honestly didn't think that Lana and Clark could ever be a good match... especially if it turned out that Lana and Nell was alike in more than one way. She was eternally grateful that Lana was still with Whitney, and thus there was no chance that Lana and Clark could ever get together.

Maria... She was a whole other issue entirely. Martha wasn't sure that any respectable school would have hired Maria at all. Maria acted and dressed way too inappropriately for an teacher, and it was kind of clear that she hadn't been trained to work with children. The only place Martha could imagine her working was at an late-night class for adults.... and she was being generous here.

Having grown up being a metropolis girl, She could only think that Maria could be found in an sex club which catered to multiple different fetishes. She had never really gone to one of those, but she certainly had heard plenty of stories about those clubs to know that Maria would fit in like a hand in a glove.

Like Nell, Martha thought that maybe Lionel was being bamboozled by Maria.

Her suspicions aside, She was worried that Maria might teach Lex the wrong things...considering that she was apparently a sex-eduction teacher. Really, what kind of 9-year-old boy needed to learn about that sort of thing??

So she had sat in on a few of Maria's classes with Lex. She had been relived to learn that it had been just your basic biology classes relating to reproduction and the way the body changed as it matured. Some of it had sounded a little too mature for a 9-year-old boy, especially the bits about erotic dreams leading to wet dreams. And the bit about erections. Dear God, that had been kind of embarrassing for her, having to listen to this woman explain that to Lex.

Martha had no idea how Maria could say such words to a child, without even getting a little red in the face. She had blushed crimson red just listening to Maria speak so straightforwardly about the male human body like that!

But Lex hadn't seemed bothered by that, and actually seemed interested in the subject where they discussed how the body changed as it matured. Lex had taken to documenting his own changes in an notebook, and compared that to the maturing process of other kids. Thanks to that, it was easier for Lex to accept the changes in his body, now that he was learning about what other kids went though when they grew up. It had helped him feel normal knowing that other kids went though that, even if they didn't go though a sped-up version of it.

So maybe Maria really was a good sex education teacher, after all. Just not one that had been trained to work with kids.... it might be that Maria was more used to teaching the 18-and-over crowd. Which left the issue of her.... clothes, if they could even be called that.

Martha had approached Maria in a highly diplomatic manner, suggesting that maybe Maria's choice of attire was unprofessional for a teacher. That it would be considered more professional if she was to cover up her cleavage and other things.

Maria then said that she would take Martha's suggestions in mind from now on. So she had taken to wearing shiny bodysuits that covered almost the entire body, so that her cleavage would not be on constant display. However it did enhance other parts of her, such as showcasing the fact that she had a very curvy butt. 

Lex honestly thought that was an improvement, probably because he had been uncomfortable every time he glanced up at her upper torso area. He even had complimented Maria on some of her new outfits.

Martha did not feel the same, however. When she saw how Maria had interpreted her suggestion, she actually had to fight the urge to face palm. Or to strangle Maria for being so oblivious to what she had meant when she suggested that Maria dress more modestly. A catsuit wasn't modest in her opinion... sure it covered up skin pretty well, but it clung to your skin in such a way that one might as well be naked.

Okay, Maybe Maria honestly had no concept of what a professional teacher was supposed to look like... Martha would have to take her shopping in town or at Grandville one of those days. Even if Maria didn't want to! Martha might have to talk Lionel into making Maria come with her if Maria didn't want to shop for a new wardrobe.

Martha sighed, shaking her head. She was going to have her work cut out for her when it came to making Maria dress like a proper teacher for once.

Honestly, Lionel did not have the best track record when it came to hiring personnel.

She paused when she thought about that. She then smirked, wondering if she could use that as an excuse to gain custody of Lex. She would have to look into that....  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Clark didn't know what to think about the two newcomers to Smallville.

For Lucas, Clark had been optimistic that Lucas might be a good brother to Lex.

Clark himself had always wanted an sibling to play with, and also so that he could have somebody else to confide within the Kent family besides his parents. He also had seen how Pete had always been close with any of his brothers, even if they squabbled a lot. There was times when he might had been a little jealous of Pete because of that.

So he had been somewhat shocked when Lucas seemed wholly disinterested in being a brother to Lex.... and basically treated Lex as if he was just a huge nuisance. Clark couldn't just wrap his mind around that. Sure, they hadn't grown up together and were basically strangers.... but, they were blood-related! That had to count for something, right? So how could Lucas treat Lex like this??

Clark also didn't like the way he kept on dissing Smallville too. Every time Lucas spoke about the town, he'd always refer it to as a Podunk town or something like that. One day he had finally enough of Lucas, and told him off. Clark listed off what he thought was great about the town, and not to knock it until Lucas had actually tried fitting in around here.

Lucas had apologized to him then, but Clark got the feeling that he hadn't really meant it.

There was also the fact that Lucas had developed a little bit of a reputation for flirting with everyone town regardless of their age and gender. So far, he had flirted with Lana Lang, Chloe, Gabe, Kwan, the bankers, Nell, and a bunch of other random people. He had even flirted with the old ladies that was on the smallville committee in charge of the town's social events.

People would had been more scandalized over that if it wasn't for the fact that his flirting was done in such a comical way that it wasn't taken seriously at all. It seemed to be something he did mostly for fun, or to diffuse a tense situation. 

So because of this Clark honestly hadn't really paid much attention to it when Lucas first started flirting with him too. It was just Lucas being... well, Lucas.

However, Clark very quickly realized that Lucas only did this with him whenever Lex was around, and that Lex often got upset when he did it. Lucas would kind of smirk at Lex, and then talk to Clark about how he could do so much better than a 9-year-old boy as a friend. He would imply all sorts of things about Clark and Lex being friends, and why a grown man would be better at those things than a 9-year-old boy would be.

At first Clark had been shocked... Lucas's comments could be seen as completely innocuous but the way Lucas emphasized certain words made it seem less than innocent. But Clark had to be mistaken about what Lucas meant, right? There was no way that Lucas could think that he was sexually involved with Lex!

What was with people assuming that he and Lex was together? Clark had no problems with gay people at all, they were people like everyone else. But what people were suggesting... well, that was pedophilia and not homosexuality! Even if certain people seemed totally incapable of telling the difference between the two.

Clark could easily admit to anybody that Lex was closer to him a brother could ever be. So it wasn't that Clark saw Lex as a sibling of sorts. They were more than just best friends, but that was in a strictly platonic way. In fact, Lex kind of merited his own category... Lex was just Lex.  
But there was no way in hell that he could ever willingly think of Lex in a sexual way at all.

Sure, Lex was growing up into an attractive-looking guy and any man would be lucky to have Lex when he was old enough to be dating, if he turned out to be gay. Key word being OLD ENOUGH. Lex was still too young and innocent for those kind of things. And Clark would never hurt Lex by doing something that Lex wasn't ready for! 

Plus, Clark had felt no desire at all whenever he looked at any child, not even Lex when he used to look like a short 9-year-old boy. So he was not a pedophile at all! So what the heck was up with people suggesting that he was one?!

Ugh, No. Just...NO.

“No offense, Lex.... but your big brother is kind of a jerk.” Clark said one day.   
Lex had only smirked, and asked: “Only kind of? I always thought he was a mega-jerk!”  
This earned him a small wry smile from Clark.

Then there was Maria Mead. Martha had ranted about her at the Kent farm after the first day she saw her. But Clark hadn't believed his mom at all when she was describing Maria.... Martha's description had sounded so exaggerated, after all!

So when Clark first met Maria, he was stunned beyond belief. He couldn't believe that his mom had been right about her all along. 

How could people manage to walk in an outfit that looked like it was designed to constrict their movement? Even that corset looked like it was squeezing the life out of the poor woman. And worst of all, Clark couldn't stop his eyes from automatically going to her boobs. He always felt so embarrassed and uncomfortable each time he caught himself looking there. He literally couldn't just help himself at all.... her boobs were on the large side and the way she was dressed, they were practically hanging out for everyone to see.

At least he knew he wasn't the only one who felt uncomfortable every time they looked at her... he had caught Lex trying his hardest not looking at that area around Maria's body. 

Clark had told his friends at school about Maria, and how he had a difficult time trying to not to stare at her body. Their responses had been kind of unexpected. He had honestly thought that they would be sympathetic about his difficulty to control his responses, but instead they had gone in the opposite direction.

Chloe just simply rolled her eyes, wondering why men were always so fixated on boobs.  
Pete had asked what the rest of her looked. He said,“Sure, she has a nice rack.... but that's pretty much wasted on her if she's not hot. You know what I mean, eh? I wouldn't mind having a hot dominatrix teacher though... why are those hot teachers always wasted on young kids who can't appreciate that shit? Especially a kid like Lex Luthor.”  
“Ugh, you can be such a pig sometimes.” Chloe shook her head at Pete's response. Pete just struck his tongue out at her. Chloe laughed, and slapped Pete’s arm. This then lead to an arm-slapping war between them, the original topic forgotten completely.

Maria then had changed up her wardrobe thanks to Martha's prompting, but now it was pretty much her shapely butt that caught Clark's attention every time she turned around. God only knows what his friends' reaction would be if He told them about that too....But on the bright side, it had to prove that he wasn't gay.... right?  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The rest of the month carried on as normal.... until the week that the strange flowers were discovered growing around town.

They had been discovered by the local botany club, who had kicked up a strong stir over having possibly discovered a new plant species. The flowers were like a strange hybrid of Tiger lilies and Sunflowers, and ranged from hot pink to a orange color.

They had a few fights and freak-outs over what to name it, and even had brought up old grudges. but nobody saw that as unusual... that flower group was always arguing over everything anyway. Plus the president of the botany group was known to have a hot temper, even to the point that he acted impulsively in his anger.

It was only when the entire group started to collapse after one other did the town start to think something was up. But then again, it was probably just sunstroke. The botany club was often outside under the sun a lot looking for beautiful local plants, to collect for their greenhouses.

Nobody else really cared about the flowers enough to even take a look at them, much less go into the greenhouse where they were now housed. So it would had been an isolated incident that nobody thought twice about had Nell and Lana not came by at all. They had came by to buy some new plants for the Talon, since it was now out of season for roses and lilies.

That was when things really started to get out of control.  
~~~~~~  
“Oh, those are lovely! What kind are those?” Chloe asked, as she noticed Lana placing the new potted flowers around the coffee house.

Lana let out a massive sneeze, before answering: “Oh, those are the new flowers that the Botany Club recently discovered. You might find this interesting, but they grow really fast.... apparently they brought in only four samples to their greenhouse, and then it started seeding dozens of offspring that bloomed overnight... so they started selling it. I just love the pink color on some of them... don't you?”

Chloe raised her eyebrows. “so you're saying those flowers are like the creeping ivy? That's cool... I heard that its rare for plants to have the ability to grow that quickly.”

The blonde eyed the flowers speculatively, and then decided to snap a few pictures of the flowers. She then told Lana, “I might be able to find out what those flowers are online. Sometimes the internet has new information that the local agriculture books don't.”

Chloe sniffled, and then sneezed. 

Lana frowned. “Gee, I hope those flowers don't cause allergies or anything like that. I've been noticing a lot of people sneezing whenever they come close to those flowers...”

Chloe just shrugged at this. What could one really say to that?

Whitney walked up to Lana, saying something about a date. Chloe wasn't paying too much attention, now that she suddenly had the best ideas ever on how to live her life. Who cared about those weird plants or the entire Botany Club all collapsing for no good reason? Not her!  
~~~~~~~

Clark was swimming with Lex in the pool at the mansion. They were racing each other in the pool, with Martha timing them to see who won the pool race this time. 

Lex won again, the third time in a row. Lex climbed out of the pool, before pouting at Clark. “You're letting me win, aren't you? I told you not to do that!”

Clark just smiled sheepishly. Martha chuckled as she put her time watch away.

Clark then climbed out of the pool himself, and looked around for a towel to dry off. It was then He caught Lex staring at him... or to be more specifically at his body. Lex realized that he had been caught staring, and actually blushed! Lex looked away quickly, and tried his best to act casual like he hadn't been oogling Clark's body.

'what the heck? Was Lex actually doing what I thought he was doing??' Clark couldn't help but wonder, feeling a little bit stunned. And why did a part of him feel so happy about that idea?

Clark's eyes widened as he realized the implications of that. NO! Bad Clark, bad! He shouldn't ever think about THAT. It was just Lucas planting those stupid ideas and theories of his again, making him see things with Lex that wasn't there at all. He was not going to let Lucas get to him! Lucas would never win!

“Clark, are you alright?” Martha frowned, having noticed the odd expression on Clark's face.

“Oh! Um, uh, I'm fine! I was just thinking that it was a shame that Pete couldn't come over to enjoy the pool with us. It's only Saturday but Pete still has plenty of after-school activity to do, you see.... eheheh..” Clark said, laughing nervously. He was so proud of himself for being able to come up with that on the fly...

Martha looked satisfied with this answer. 

“Oh, that's right. The school clubs that boy is part of...” She then shook her head. “I have to say, Pete really takes the term workaholic to a whole new level. I think it would do him some good if you dragged him off to have more fun instead once in a while.”

Clark grinned. “I know, right? I haven't hung out with him that much lately nowadays... if it's not him being a workaholic, he's basically dating some new girl each time! So it's no wonder why he hasn't found the time for the rest of us mere mortals.”

Martha smirked at this, and tossed her son a towel. “Come on, dry up. It's time for Lex's studies soon... and I think you should get dressed and go back home.”

Lex groaned at this. “Ugh! Can't Clark stay a while longer? This place is so boring without him around!”

Martha turned around to give Lex this look, that Clark often referred to as “The mom look”.

“Which is exactly why I asked Clark to go home. I can't have him distracting you from your studies. Besides, he still has chores at home that he needs to do.” With that, She gave a stern look at both boys.

“Yes, Ma'am!” Both boys said at the same time, then burst out laughing at the perfecting timing.

They then rushed off to get dressed in Lex's bedroom.

Martha cleaned up some of the mess that the boys had left behind, and then headed to the Library where she assumed that Maria Mead would be setting up Lex's studies again.

But in the hallway, she ran into Nell who were looking very harried and acting unlike herself. She was carrying a planter containing a pink-orange flower that Martha didn't recognize at all. It sorta looked like a sunflower, but at the same time was nothing like any sunflower she had ever seen. It almost looked like one of those tropical flowers that she had only ever seen in books.

“That bitch is out to steal Lionel away from me, I just know it...” Nell mumbled under her breath, not having noticed Martha yet.

“Nell?” Martha said in a wondering tone, because she had honestly never seen Nell act this way. Nell was always the type to act cheerful all the time, even when she really wasn't feeling cheerful. So for there to be a visible crack in her facade... well you just knew something was wrong.

Nell blinked, acting as if she had been snapped out of a daze. She then grinned evilly when she saw Martha, obviously having thought of something.

“You hate Maria too, don't you? Why don't we work together to get rid of her...?” There was a slightly sinister undertone to Nell's voice as she said it.

“Uh...” Martha caught that tone, and weren't sure what Nell was up to. “I don't hate her at all... I just don't approve of her. A proper teacher should not be dressing the way she does. She seems to know what she's talking about when it comes to the things she teaches Lex, but she's clearly not trained to deal with kids. I do wish Lionel would find a more appropriate teacher for Lex. That's basically how I feel about her right now. ”

Nell started snickering at this. “I don't think she's a real teacher at all...I heard a rumor from the staff around here that she was actually a hired dominatrix.... and not only that but Lionel used to be a client of hers. Because of this, I had to do a background check on her... “ Nell then started scowling bitterly. “It turns out that it may be true. She even had her own website detailing everything she was willing to do with clients for a fee. Everything from BSDM, to scat-play... that sort of thing. I swear she'd even fuck an animal if she was paid a billion dollars to do it! The whore.”

“WHAT??” Martha gaped at Nell. Nell couldn't be serious about that, yet she seemed so convinced that it was what Maria really was. “Why would Lionel hire her to teach Lex, then? That makes no sense!”

Nell rolled her eyes. “Lionel told me that it was because he was worried about his son's sexuality.... it turns out that Lex might be gay! Frankly, it wouldn't surprise me if Lex was really gay... especially with the way he looks at your son Clark lately. And of course I'm all for trying to covert him to the right side, but he needs to lose his virginity to a proper girl, not a whore. Don't you think so? But that's if Lionel even told me the truth at all... he could be lying to me just so that he could sleep with her behind my back!”

“WHAT?!” Martha yelled, unable to believe her ears. Being a metropolis girl originally, she had no problems with gay people at all... and most of all she did believe that it wasn't a choice any more than you could choose to be straight. So the fact that Lex was possibly gay did not bug her at all.... but the fact that Lionel hired some woman to have sex with Lex was definitely a big No-no. Lex was still only 9 years old, even if his body was outgrowing him! And for them to believe that this could turn him straight?? If anything, having sex at such a young age could traumatize him...

She felt her body go cold as a horrible thought occurred to her. What if Lex had been abused by this woman already?! She would have to talk to Lex about this first before she did anything. She had to make sure that Nell's allegations were true or not.

Nell was now standing very close to Martha. She leaned in, breathing into her ear as she asked again:  
“So, will you help me get rid of Maria or not? I'm thinking between the two of us, we could dig a grave out in the garden here where nobody would be able to find her at all...”

Martha's eyebrows went up of their own accord as she stepped back to look at Nell Potter.

“Uhh.... you're not actually suggesting murder, are you? There are better ways to get rid of a person, you know. Like by firing her!” Martha told Nell, still stunned by Nell's change in personality and by what she had told her.

Nell's face darkened at this, and then she scoffed. “I should had known better than to ask you, you're way too soft for this! A real woman needs to be strong enough, to be able to defend her man... even if it means killing off all the competition...”

With that, Nell viciously shoved the planter into Martha's arms, and stormed off.

Martha was about to go after her, but a massive sneeze stopped her in her tracks. “Nell!! Don't do anything.... AHH... Ahhh.. Ahhchoo!!”

She then stared down at the strange flower in her hands with an vacant expression on her face.

Clark and Lex choose this moment to appear again, back in their dry clothes.

“Well, I'll be seeing you tomorrow I guess. See ya, Lex!” Clark said.

“Yeah. Maria must be waiting for me right now, so I guess I have to hurry.” Lex replied.

The very mention of Maria snapped Martha out of her daze, and she dropped the planter. It smashed into pieces against the floor, and the dirt went flying everywhere.

That caught the boys' attention, and they turned to her with surprised expressions.

Martha smiled at them. “Actually, I've decided that Lex will be coming home with us right now. After all, it's Saturday... a normal boy would be playing or something instead of doing schoolwork! It's not fair that a home-schooled boy wouldn't have the same breaks that other children would have. Right?”

“Really?” Lex grinned at this. This mean that he would get to spend more time with Clark!

Martha nodded. “Well, that's settled... let's all go home together.” With that, she stepped over the mess she had made.

“Um, you want me to help you clean that up?” Clark asked, referring to the plant and dirt.

“Oh, just leave it! The help can clean it up for us.” Martha answered, as she grabbed both Lex and Clark. She then dragged them off to the exit, wanting to leave quickly as possible.

Clark frowned as he allowed himself to be led away. It wasn't like his mom to think of the castle staff as “The help”, or for her to intentionally leave a huge mess behind for them. It wasn't just like her at all.

The group didn't notice Lucas step out of the shadows, and look down at the flower lying on the ground with a curious expression on his face.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning, Clark walked downstairs with Lex right behind him.  
Apparently his mom decided that Lex should stay overnight. Nobody had objected to this, as they all assumed that Lex would be going back home the next morning.

Much to the boys' surprise, they caught Martha and Jonathan making out on the counter like they were teenagers! They were even kind of grinding against each other in a way that Clark did not need to see.

Clark flushed as he turned around quickly. “Ugh! I do not need to see my parents doing that!” He said loudly, to let his parents know that they were here.

Lex didn't avert his eyes, and just stared at the two curiously.

Martha giggled as Jonathan pulled away from her, blushing like a schoolboy who had been caught making out with his crush.

“Oh, honey... You're old enough to know this is what husbands and wives do together. What do you think we do late at night, or when you're away at school?” Martha replied casually as she slid off the counter and went to make breakfast.

“MOM!” Clark yelped, covering his ears. “Still did not need to see that or hear about it!”

His mother giggled again.

“So.... You seem to have woken up in a unusually good mood today.” Jonathan wondered, as he looked at his wife quizzically. He honestly didn't mind making out with his beautiful wife this morning, but even he had to admit that Martha was acting a little unusual.

“Why do you say that as if that was a bad thing? Aren't I allowed to feel good once in a while?” Martha raised her eyebrows at her husband. She then giggled again when Jonathan started stammering that it wasn't what he had meant at all... that he was just wondering what had put her in a good mood.

“But if you must know, I just decided on doing something finally, instead of waiting for the perfect time to act. Waiting is just so tedious, you know? It's nice to finally just do whatever you want!” Martha replied.

“And what is that, exactly?” Jonathan wondered.

Martha rolled her eyes. “You know very well what it is! Remember what we agreed on, when we were there at the Smallville plant incident? That we would do anything it took to protect both our boys?”

Jonathan raised his eyebrows as if to say: “Oh, that plan.”

“Both boys? But you only have Clark...” Lex wondered, trying to make sense of this conversation.

“It means you too... We consider you a part of this family. Don't you know that?” Martha smiled at Lex.

“Oh...I see.” Lex looked like he was both stunned and happy by this.

Clark grinned. His smile then faded when he saw the clock.  
“Oh no! I'm late for school! See you guys around!” With that, he quickly kissed both Martha and Lex on their cheek and forehead. He then moved at super-speed.

“Clark!” Jonathan was shocked that his son would super-speed right in front of Lex. But it was already too late, Clark was gone.

He spun around to look at Lex, who didn't seem all that.... surprised?

“You knew??” Jonathan gaped at Lex. “How long?”

Lex glanced at Martha and then at Jonathan. He just shrugged. “I knew almost from the very day I was brought here to Smallville by my father. Clark saved me from a guy who had powers, and he had to use his own powers too to save in the process. After that, he explained to me about the meteor rocks, and how they changed people.”

Jonathan felt his knees grow weak. He then sat down quickly before he could collapse, and he looked up. “Does... does your father know?”

Lex shook his head. “I haven't told my dad about anything that I saw at all. Not even about other meteor mutants besides Clark.”

The way Lex worded it... well, it sounded like Clark had led Lex into believing that Clark was one of those meteor freaks. So Lex knew Clark had powers, but he still didn't know the whole thing.

Okay, Jonathan could deal with that. It was better than Lex knowing that Clark was an alien. He then let out a long sigh. And if Lex hadn't really told anybody at all, he supposed that they could trust Lex with this part of the secret.

Martha smiled, having remained calm throughout the whole conversation. “Well, As a part of the Kent family Lex had to know eventually, anyway.”

She then went back to cooking breakfast for all of them, as if a earth-shattering revelation hadn't been made just now.

Martha then frowned, a thought occurring to her. “Darling, do we have enough ammo for the shotgun?”

Jonathan paused, his glass of orange juice raised halfway to his mouth. “Why do you ask?”

Martha didn't answer him, as she was totally preoccupied with the problem she was having. It was one thing to effectively keep Lex here forever... and it would be easy to keep Lionel out with a few warning shots. But if the cops and anybody else came along and tried to take Lex away....

Well, she would just have to shoot them all. Starting with Lionel, of course. If that man was dead, it would certain solve so many problems....  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was like half the school had gone completely bonkers, in Clark's opinion.

There was just so many students who were making out and humping each other in the hallways and elsewhere instead of going to classes like normal.

There was a few who were playing rock music loudly on their ipods, and just dancing like crazy on top of the desks and tables.

Clark's eyebrows climbed even higher when he spotted Lana and Whitney. Lana was wearing a skimpy black outfit, and gyrating against Whitney. Whitney... well, he was practically half-naked, having taken off his shirt and pants. All he had left was his boxers.  
He was now palming his crotch, rubbing... until there was a huge tent in his boxers.

Clark flushed red, unable to believe that Whitney was actually daring enough to do something like that in a public space. But it was kind of hot... Clark could feel himself reacting to the sight of Lana and Whitney together like that. Wow, Whitney was so muscular under all those clothes... and his skin looked really good against Lana's darker tone. And Lana's legs looked so nice wrapped around Whitney.....

He was snapped out of his lust-inducing daze, when somebody tapped him on the shoulder.

He turned around, to see Chloe smiling at him seductively.  
Chloe actually manged to dress even skimpier than Lana did. Her outfit consisted of red shorts, a black bra with a red lacy see-though tank top over it. The outfit was completed with red knee-high boots.

“I have a fun idea... why don't you follow me?” Chloe purred, pulling at Clark's arm.

Clark was still confused by what was going on here in this school, so he followed Chloe. Maybe She would tell him what was going on here. And what was up with that outfit? He didn't even know that Chloe had something like THAT in her wardrobe... holy shit, those shorts of her barely covered up her butt cheeks...

Clark blushed, looking away quickly. He wasn't supposed to be checking out a friend's ass... especially not a female friend! Even if Chloe had a really nice ass.

They wound up at the pool, of all places. Before he could ask what they were doing here, Chloe shoved him down on one of those benches and climbed on top of him.

“Chloe!! what are you doing?” Clark yelped, looking up at Chloe with a shocked expression on his face.

“Here's what I decided.” Chloe said as she looked down at him. “I'm fucking sick and tired of watching you salivate after Lana... especially considering that she's off limits to you anyway. Well, guess what? You have a beautiful lady right here who's available to you right now... A lady who's been in love with you ever since the day she met you! Now, think carefully.... wouldn't it be nice to be in an existing relationship where all of the affections are actually reciprocated?? Why pine away after somebody who's never going to see you the way I do? Tell me, can you even trust her with your secrets?”

Clark was completely surprised at Chloe's sudden love confession, especially considering that she claimed to have loved him for a long time yet never really showed it all those years. If that had been true, then why hadn't he noticed it at all? Or had he just been really oblivious to it all?

Chloe mistook his silence for something else, because she made a frustrated noise and then started kissing him passionately. She really wanted to wipe away any single thoughts about Lana out of Clark's mind forever!

Clark found himself kissing back, because that kiss was awesome! It basically sent up sparks of pleasure in his body, and now Chloe was practically humping him which added to the pleasure. So this was what a teenage make-out session was like.

Why didn't everyone ever tell Clark how awesome those makeouts were?? It was like the perfect compromise between hand-holding and sex....especially if you were tired of hand-holding but weren't ready for sex. Or something like that.

“Ugh, not you too. Come on, guys, break it up!” Kwan snapped, appearing out of nowhere.

Clark practically jumped out of his seat, startled by the principal’s sudden appearance. Chloe on the other hand, simply did not care. She just giggled, before saying: “Why don't you leave us alone, old man? You're killing the mood!”

“Chloe!” Clark gasped, and then laughed nervously at the man. “Sir, she didn't really mean it... We'll get out of here and back to class... we promise!”

Kwan just sighed, pinching his noses. He had a massive headache, but he was just glad to find somebody else who were actually acting normally for once. Even if it was a guy like Clark Kent.  
“That would be great, thank you. Most of the student body today doesn't seem to be listening well at all today... I don't understand what is wrong with everyone today! If this keeps up I'll have to give the entire school a month-long detention! Even some of the teachers were acting strangely...”

Clark frowned... this sounded like something strange, something that might even belong up on Chole’s wall of weird. “Even the teachers? Do you know what they were all doing before all this strange behavior occurred?”

Kwan just shook his head. “No idea at all. I don't keep track of this, you know. Although I did hear of some people acting strangely and then collapsing yesterday. For all I know the two could be related...”

Clark gently pushed Chloe aside, as he stood up. “Sir? Do you mind if I stop by the torch? I want to look up some things about what's causing this strange behavior. “

Kwan sighed. “Sure why not? It's not like the teachers are actually enforcing the school rules today... and nobody are taking the classes seriously today! So what's the point anyway?”

“Thanks, Mr. K!” Clark replied, dragging Chloe along with him. Chloe might not be acting like her usual self, but maybe she could still help.

Kwan just shook his head, and went on his way to find more teenagers whose libido needed to be cooled down before they did anything they might regret.  
~~~~~~~~~~~  
Chloe smirked as they walked into the Torch office. She then spoke: “You know, it was a life long fantasy of mine for us to make out here.”

She then glomped on to Clark, her breasts rubbing up against Clark's body in such a way that made him blush.

“Um, Chloe... as much as I find your fantasies interesting, we really do need to find out what's going on here.” Clark tried to reason with the blonde, still blushing from her intimate touch.

Chloe rolled her eyes. “For a boy so hot, you can be such a drag at times! I mean, hello? You've got a sexy, lusty blonde right in front of you and all you can think of is work?”  
She then practically undressed Clark with her eyes in a way that made Clark feel naked. Strangely enough it was kind of turning him on.

Lana had NEVER looked at him this way, much less made him feel this way. And it was kind of nice to be seen in this way... nobody had never even gave him a second glance before.

But they were getting way off track here. He had to get to the source of all this strange behavior, and fast. But Chloe had given him a idea.

“Tell you what... why don't we make a deal? I'll give you kisses in exchange for information. For every tidbit you give me, A kiss?”

Chloe pouted at this. “only kisses? I was kind of hoping we could work up to something... more.”

It took all of Clark's willpower not to blush bright scarlet at this statement. Instead, he said in what he hoped was a smooth tone of voice: “We can work on that after all of this is over, okay?”

Chloe smiled, and nodded. Clark couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief as Chloe turned around towards her desk. She then grabbed her digital camera and showed him the pictures of the flowers at the talon.

“Those were found out near the woods where that werido meteor rock collector lives. Mr. Hamlition, I think that's his name? Well, whatever.”

“I see.. what happened up there to cause this, and what does the flowers have to do with it?” Clark asked. Chloe shook her head, before reminding Clark about their deal.

Clark sighed, and then gave Chloe what was a very lackluster kiss on the lips. Chloe rolled her eyes. “You call that a kiss? Come on, let me teach you what a proper kiss is...”

With that She practically shoved her tongue down his throat.

Clark had to push her away after a minute of that, and prompt her into revealing everything she knew about the flowers. Especially the part about the Botany Club, who had discovered the flowers, acting strangely before they all collapsed.

Clark's eyes widened when he realized that the Botany Club's symptoms before they matched the entire student body to a T. So therefore the flowers had to be connected somehow, and he could also find some more information from Mr. Hamilton. Maybe Clark could also find something that could return everyone back to normal.

“Okay, I have to follow up on this information... wait here, okay?” Clark told Chloe.

Chloe was about to object to this, but Clark blurred away before she could say anything. She then sighed. “All work, No fun at all...”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Clark had taken this opportunity to look around town on his way to the forest, and just like he feared the flowers had affected almost everyone else in town too.

There was a lot of erratic drivers, people fighting with each other and even a few couples taking PDA way too far.

However there was still plenty of people who hadn't been affected, evidenced by the police who seemed to be fed up with this behavior, and were just arresting everybody who acted strangely.

He stopped by the Talon, and noted that those strange flowers were in planters around the coffee shop... which might explain how this had spread around the entire town. He sped in and out, collecting every single one of those flowers so that nobody else would be affected.

For good measure, he stopped by the greenhouses to collect the flowers there too.

He then sped-run all the way up to Mr. Hamilton’s shack.

There was more of those flowers growing outside around there, and Clark could hear yelling going on inside the shack.

He recognized Lionel Luthor's voice.

“I didn't pay you to work on this kind of research! I paid you to collect and study the meteor rocks, not resurrect long-dead flowers! On top of it, look at what those disgusting things did to the people in town... do you know how much of a PR nightmare this is going to be if they trace it back to us?”

“It wasn't my fault.” The other voice grumbled. “I was moving the Nicodemus flowers around, but one of the containers broke near a window... and somehow it managed to spread their seeds outside. Before I knew it, they were growing at a insane rate outside, even spreading itself around the forest! Only if that stupid flower club hadn't been snooping around the forest, this wouldn't had happened...”

Clark peered inside the window as he continued to eavesdrop. Lionel was looking mildly pissed off, but not worried. Mr. Hamilton on the other hand, was sweating profusely.

“I assume you have a cure for this, at least?” Lionel sighed.

Mr. Hamilton turned towards his desk at this, and picked up his book. “It's right here. The Native Americans had an cure for this flower....”

Clark squinted, and were able to make out the name of the book. 'Tale of the Nicodemus Flower'.  
He did his best to memorize that, because he had a feeling that he needed to research that book... maybe they had a copy of that at the library? He really didn't want to have to go into there and steal that book... especially if they needed to use it for a cure, since how Lionel was apparently planning to do that anyway.

It was then that something just occurred to Clark. He then slapped his forehead, unable to believe that he had forgotten about the flower that his mom had been holding the other day! What if it was affecting his mom too?? He had to run home and check!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A totally unexpected sight greeted Clark when he first appeared on the farm.

A shirtless Lex was outside, holding a water hose over himself as he washed himself off. Clark never really thought of Lex as a sexual being, but the way he was washing himself practically oozed sexual appeal. His smooth milky-white skin, peppered with freckles on his shoulders and back. His pink nipples. That abdominal dark red hair trail leading from his bellybutton to..that area hidden by his pants. The way the water ran down his body.....

Clark was just too used to thinking of Lex as a young boy... but all of a sudden it was like he was seeing this young man in front of him instead. Lex had quickly gained some height this year, he was now almost tall as Clark was, and no longer looked like a 9-year-old boy at all. Instead he looked like he could be 16 years old, going on 17. It was amazing what “early puberty” could do to a person in a single year. It's as if Lex could be Clark's equal, going to high school with him and everything.

He felt dizzy all of a sudden... he couldn't help but think that the sudden change in his viewpoint regarding Lex had left him dizzy. And for some reason he was starting to feel his eyes burn...

He blinked it back, just as Jonathan came out with a plaid shirt and a towel.

Lex put down the water hose, and smiled as he reached for the towel. “Thanks. I'm sorry for falling over and making such a big mess out in the chicken coop. That's just those chickens really startled me...”

Jonathan chuckled. “It's alright. I just hope that Martha can get all the chicken poop off your shirt. Meanwhile, you can wear one of Clark's shirts for now.”

Lex dried off, and put on the shirt quickly since it was kind of chilly outside.

Clark felt a strange reaction to seeing Lex in his shirt... it was almost like a sense of ownership over Lex, and now he could feel his eyes starting to burn again. Fuck, what was wrong with him??

He had a sudden thought. What if the flowers actually affected him too, but just differently because he was an alien?? This would explain so much... He felt himself relax, and the burning went away. He wasn't really attracted to Lex in that way at all.. no way, sir! It just probably made him horny as hell and wanting to hump everything he saw currently. Of course, he also had to blame Lucas for giving him a dirty mind too! Yep, it was both Lionel and Lucas's fault for this whole mess to start with.

“Clark, is that you? What are you doing over there? Aren't you supposed to be in school?” Jonathan called out as he spotted Clark a few feet away by the fences. His expression took on an disproving look, as he realized that Clark was now cutting class.

Lex turned to look at him, similarly puzzled but not that displeased to see him.

Clark went over to them, and explained about how people in both school and the entire town were acting strangely, and how those “Nicodemus flowers” were at the source of it all. Jonathan’s expression darkened when Clark told him about the conversation that he had overheard between Hamilton and Lionel Luthor.

“Should had known he would be behind it... Lionel always finds a way to put himself in the middle of every mess out there.” Jonathan muttered.

“Anyway, I came here because I got worried that it might had affected mom... after all, I saw her hold one of those flowers yesterday at the mansion.”

Jonathan sighed. “Well that does explain why Martha has been acting strange all day... She even threatened Maria with the shotgun when she stopped by to pick up Lex for his classes! I had to pry it out of her hands before she would do anything rash. But she wouldn't explain to me why she did that... I never saw her act like that before. She's inside napping right now.”

Clark frowned at this bit of bad news. “I have to use the library computer to look up this book... it spoke about those long-dead flowers that was very similar to the flowers going around Smallville. Maybe we could find a way to stop it on our own... if Lionel hasn't come up with a cure by now.”

Jonathan replied, “Why not use the computer here? I know it's kind of outdated and the internet is slow, but maybe we should all stay together and keep an eye on Martha. She barely listened to me today, but if we team up we could keep her from doing anything she regretted.”

It made sense to Clark, so he simply nodded and they all went into the house. He went to this tiny room in the back where they kept all their bills, other bookkeeping files... and of course, their box-like computer that was straight from the 80's.

Clark sighed as he looked at it. Clark sometimes thought that this computer was the only one left in Kansas that still used those black floppy disks that you could flex. He wasn't a big fan of how slow it could be compared to the Library computers. But this was all they could afford to use.... And the internet pages often took up to five minutes to fully load! To a boy who could super-sped, that often felt like an eon before anything interesting happened.

“MARTHA!!” Jonathan yelled, startling him out of his moody thoughts.

Clark rushed into the living room, where Jonathan and Lex was shaking Martha hard as they could. Martha was lying on the couch, and appeared to be fully asleep... but she wasn't responding to the shaking at all... it was almost like she was completely unconscious, or worse. Clark felt a small pang of fear at this, dreading what was about to come next. Lex looked up at Clark with teary eyes, stating the obvious. “Clark, your mom won't wake up at all!”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author Notes: So there you have it... Lex is slowly but surely growing into a very sexy young man, and Clark has noticed that... much as he doesn't want to! :) But will Martha and the rest of the Town ever make out of this one? stay tuned for part two!!
> 
> Be sure to review the story so far, lords and ladies! I can only improve with feedback.


	7. Nicodemus Flower Episode Remix Part Two--In which Clark freaks out.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> People deal with the aftermath of the flowers, and Clark's confronted by his own sexuality and goes off in a blind panic.

Lex didn't think it was possible to feel scared and numb at the same time, but apparently it was. He was sitting outside with Jonathan and Clark, waiting on the doctor to come out of Martha's hospital room.

Seeing Martha lie there in that hospital bed hooked up to all the machines, had hit a little too close to home for Lex. She strongly resembled Lillian Luthor when she had to stay at the hospital for a while, in an attempt to prolong her life all those years ago. It was almost as if the universe was telling him that all the women in his life were doomed to have agonizing, slow deaths before leaving him forever.

He bit his lips, as he leaned over to hide his anguished expression from the public. He didn't want to cry out loud. Martha was Clark's mom, not his... so what right did he have to cry over her as if she was his own? Martha had said that she considered him to be part of the Kent family, but still...

He was startled out of his moody thoughts as Clark pulled Lex halfway into his lap. Clark then hugged him like one might do with a crying child. 

“Don't worry... My mom will wake up and everything will be alright... you'll see...” Clark said, like he was trying to convince Lex and himself.

He felt a pat on his shoulder, and turned to look at Jonathan. Jonathan’s eyes were bloodshot from crying, but he still managed to put on a convincing smile. “That's right, son... Martha is stronger than most people assume. She's always been a real fighter... she never backs down when it comes to standing up for others. So she would never let a little thing like a goddamned flower take her out of commission...”

Lex couldn't help it then. He burst out crying, much to his shame. 

That had caused a impromptu Kent group hug between all three of them, as they cried and did their best to comfort each other.

“Did I ever tell you how I met Martha?” Jonathan wondered. Both Clark and Lex shook their heads.

Jonathan then smiled, his lips trembling a little bit. “It was way back in College. She first came up to me by this fountain, and had asked me if she could copy my notes. After that, we just kind of started bumping into each other around the campus. She came from a very prestigious family, and I was just a farm boy, so we were in different social circles on campus... so we only ever interacted whenever we bumped into each other. But that changed one day.”

“What happened?” Clark asked.

“Some rich snobs were hassling this poor girl who had came from a poverty-stricken family and had only been able to go to college on an sponsorship. Just because she did better in class than those creeps did, they were trying to make her out as this tramp who slept around for grades. Anybody who had ever talked with that girl and gotten to know her, knew that wasn't true at all. She wasn't the type to do that at all, and had too much pride as a woman to resort to sleeping around for grades. But those boys were dumb as a brick, and honestly thought that people would believe them. So they were sexually harassing her, and asking her how much money they had to pay in order for her to spread her legs.” Jonathan looked angry at that memory. He paused, before continuing with his story.

“This lady had been a good friend of mine, so I did my best to defend her against those creeps... but they didn't seem to pay any attention to me, and just kind of plowed on right on though with their harassment. It was then Martha appeared that one day, and did more to defend my friend than I could have. She really knew the law of the state and the campus... but I suppose that was a given with her father being a respected lawyer. She pretty much started quoting the severe legal penalties that those boys were going to get if they were caught sexually harassing any woman on campus. Martha even brought up the possibility that this woman was legally entitled to take those boys to court, and sue them for all they were worth.”

Jonathan chuckled. “The idea that they could lose all their money to a destitute woman just because of their behavior actually scared them more than my threats to beat them up ever did. So they actually backed off. Martha could had just left things as they were then, but she went beyond that by taking my friend to this group meet dealing with sexual harassment. My friend never had a problem with those rich snobs again, thanks to Martha teaching her about what she could legally do if they ever tried to do it again.” 

He blinked back tears. “What really struck me about the whole situation was that Martha was essentially a rich person too herself, but she never cared about money. She basically saw everyone as equal, and stubbornly stood up for everyone whose she felt was being unfairly prosecuted just because of where they came from. That was when I knew that I wanted to marry a strong, intelligent woman just like her. I felt like the luckiest man alive when she agreed to marry me. She even gave up her own family and her fortune, just so she could be with me. Sometimes I can't believe she did something like that for somebody like me...”

Lex and Clark smiled at this story. 

Lex could actually kind of understand why Martha had done this. Life at the farm was great, even if the Kents couldn't afford everything they wanted. It was quiet, peaceful and comfortable compared to always being in the public's eye. When you were a rich person living in the Media spotlight, you always had to be on your guard all the time.... which could get really tiring fast. Not to mention that when you were rich, you never really knew who your true friends were... because everyone always hung out with you in hopes that you might favor them, and give them anything they desired.

That was a bitter lesson he had learned at Excelsior Prep school, at the tender age of seven years old. There had been people there who he thought had been his friends, until they got tired of the things that he had been giving them in return for being “friends”. They had shattered his trust in them, and started spreading all the secrets he told them in total confidence to the rest of the school.  
When he came home crying to his father about that, Lionel had then lectured him that all people were like this, and that was why Lex shouldn't ever trust anybody at all.

If not being able to trust anybody was the price you had to pay for being rich, then it would be a very easy choice to voluntary give up all of that. Especially if you had a yellow farmhouse with a loving family waiting for you...

“She did it because she loves you, Dad.” Clark was saying to Jonathan.

Jonathan let out a shaky breath. “I just don't know what to do if she.... well.... I just always thought that if anything like this ever happened.... that I'd be the first to go. Or that we'd grow old together and hold each other as we died together.”

Clark was about to say something, but the appearance of the doctor interrupted whatever he had been about to say.

“Any good news?” Jonathan asked, almost in a pleading tone of voice.

The doctor looked grim. “I'm afraid not... Martha's fallen into an coma and there's a strong chance that she could remain that way. Keep in mind that she isn't the first... there's been a lot of people coming in with the same exact condition she has. They all seem to have this strange chemical in their blood work. I don't know what it is, otherwise I could do something about it.”

“I believe I can help you with that.” Lionel Luthor said, as he appeared from behind a corner.

“What are you doing here?” Jonathan growled.

“For the same exact reason as you. My fiance Nell Potter succumbed to the same illness that your wife had.” He shook his head, as he said the next part. “It was quite a sight... She was caught by security trying to kill Lex's teacher. They had to restrain her because she wouldn't listen to reason. she had a seizure and then passed out. She's been in a coma ever since.”

“Is Maria okay?” Lex frowned. He might not like Maria much, but nobody deserved to be murdered by somebody who were high on flower pollen.

Lionel smirked slightly. “Oh, she's alright... just a little bit shaken up. Maria said something about Martha Kent threatening to kill her when she stopped by the farm to pick up Lex for their daily lesson? Ah, and then she came home to find Nell waiting with a butcher knife..... It's quite a day she had, alright. Quite frankly, she was utterly shocked to find out that both Martha and Nell hated her enough to want to murder her...”

“It wasn't Martha's fault! It was the flower pollen talking!” Clark spoke up, wanting to defend his mother.

Lionel chuckled. “Oh, I know... I did tell her about the flower affecting everyone in town, but for some reason she didn't seem to believe it. Said that it sounded like something straight out of a bad scifi film. But I suspect she'll believe it when the news does a segment on those flowers... I had Mr. Hamilton, our resident meteorologist, speak to the newspaper about it. There's also some very interesting footage from the Smallville high school and from around town of people acting erratically.” 

Lionel had a thoughtful expression on his face. “I imagine those people will be highly embarrassed with themselves when they come to their senses and see what they've done.”

The doctor looked skeptical. “Wait... are you people saying that a flower did this to half the town?”

Lionel then pulled out the book that Clark had seen Mr. Hamiltion hold earlier. And There was a red ribbon bookmark in it now, which Lionel used to find the correct pages. He then held it open for the doctor to see.

Clark peered at it, and there was a sketch of the same exact flower that he saw in town and elsewhere.

Lionel flashed a shark grin at the doctor. “We all know that Smallville can be a little bit strange at times. Some blame it on the meteors, and others has a strange tendency to blame my plant for some reason. But did you know that Smallville was always a little bit strange long before there was even a Smallville? This book spoke about those strange flowers which had been around for a very long time, affecting a small settlement not too far from here in the year 1809. Those flowers caused people to lose their mental inhibitions, and as an result many went on rampages, committed adultery, and the sin of murder. The Native Americans living in the area, of course, had dealt with this sort of thing for decades and already had devised a cure which would save the lives of the surviving settlers. The book tells us how to make the cure, should we run into this flower again.”

“If this flower has been around for such a long time, how the hell did we not hear about this before??” Jonathan wondered, highly skeptical of anything that Lionel was saying. 

“Well, apparently the survivors set fire to their town. And did so to every place where the flowers might live in the hopes that those flowers might forevermore become extinct and never trouble humanity again. So my guess is that it was a highly endangered flower that had been hiding somewhere in the forest where humanity hadn't walked yet, at least not until the botany club came across it.” Lionel explained, in a very reasonable tone of voice.

The doctor sighed. “There's a cure in that book, you say? At this point, I'm willing to try anything. Let me take a look at that.”

Lionel handed the doctor the book, saying something about how he would help out by bringing in some of the best medical staff from Metropolis.

The doctor left... and Jonathan got up from his seat. He then leaned in to whisper into Lionel's ears: “I know you were responsible for this somehow. So if anything happens to Martha, I'll do everything in my power to take you down. Even kill you outright if possible. That's a promise.”

Lionel raised his eyebrows at this, but nodded. He then headed in the direction where Nell's Hospital room was at.

Clark stared at Jonathan, his mouth slightly open. He couldn't had actually heard what he thought he did, right? He had honestly never thought that his father had it in him to threaten to kill anybody. Then again, Clark had always thought that his mother never could have it in her to act threatening or even want to kill... but the flower had brought it out in her.

He then held on to Lex, trying to exorcise those disturbing thoughts. He didn't want to think of his parents like that... they had always been wholesome and perfect in his eyes. It was just unsettling to think that they might have a dark side to them like that.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As time progressed, more unconscious people were brought into into the hospital. Clark gasped when he saw that Chloe, Lana and Whitney was one of the unconscious people.

He felt inexplicably guilty for some reason, despite the fact that this time it apparently had nothing to do with the meteors but were a nasty relic from the past itself. That is, if Lionel had been telling the truth about that.

It was small comfort to think that Clark's arrival here hadn't turned Smallville into an epicenter of weirdness.... that all it did was expose the natural weirdness that were there all along. Well, maybe.

He just hoped that the cure from the book worked. He hated not being able to do anything when it came to stuff like this..... it was ironic though, that he could do things like punch though solid steel and save people from meteor mutants. But against behavior-altering flowers, he was utterly helpless.

Maybe he should think about becoming a doctor...? Then he'd really be able to do everything, like save the town from this kind of thing.

Clark's rambling train of thought was derailed soon as Lucas appeared.

“Yo, sugar lips. Lex around here? Lionel called me and told me to take him home.” Lucas asked.

Clark couldn't help but roll his eyes as Lucas called him that stupid nickname. He thumbed in the direction of Martha's room. “He's in there with Jonathan.”

Lucas smirked, patted Clark on the shoulder and were on his way. Clark decided to follow him into his mom's hospital room, just in case Lucas felt like antagonizing Jonathan and Lex. He wouldn't have that happen at a time like this.

Lex was curled up against Jonathan, While Jonathan had one arm wrapped around Lex and had his free hand holding Martha's hand. They were both staring at her sleeping face, waiting for her to wake up. The doctor had given her the cure, and said it might take her a while to wake up. That is, if the cure worked...

Lucas frowned as he took this scene in. He said rather sharply: “It's time to go home, Lex.”

Lex pouted at his brother. “Can't I stay a while longer? I want to see if Martha wakes up.”

“Just come with me already! I don't have time for this sentimental drivel.” Lucas snapped.

Jonathan glared at Lucas for acting so insensitive to the situation at hand. He even looked like he wanted to let loose and really let Lucas have it until he was a bloody mess lying on the ground.

Lex sensed that things were about to get out of control, so he just stood up. “Alright, I'm coming...”

He walked over to Lucas, while looking at Clark as he asked: “You'll call me and tell me how Martha is doing, right?”

Clark smiled, and nodded.

With that, the Luthor brothers left.

Jonathan just shook his head, muttering under his breath. “Fucking Luthors... It's hard to believe that Lex is actually related to them.”

Clark sat down by him, and patted his back in an attempt to calm his dad down. He then joked, “Well, I've heard about the black sheep... So I guess in Lex's case he's the white sheep living with all the black sheep?”

Jonathan just smiled wryly at this.

Five minutes later, Martha Kent actually woke up.

“What's going on? Why am I here?” Martha wondered, as both the Kent males jumped up to hug her and ask her how she was feeling.

Clark then had to recount the story about the Nicodemus flowers, and what Martha tried to do to when Maria came to visit the farm.

“You honestly don't remember what you did?” Jonathan asked.

Martha frowned. “All I remember is, I had been standing in the hallway at the mansion, talking to Nell Potter. and she was telling me some very disturbing things about Maria...”

She then told them about Nell Potter's allegations that Lionel thought that Lex was gay, and that he had hired Maria to sleep with his 9-year-old son because of that. But not only that, Maria was somebody that Lionel had slept with in the past.

Jonathan looked vaguely disturbed at this. “Well, that certainly explains why you chased off Maria when you weren't being... yourself. Normally I would say that there was no shame in a young man having sexual experiences with a older woman. But Lex's still only 9-year-old.. I think he's still a bit too young to be ready for such experiences.”

Martha couldn't help but stare at Jonathan. She raised her eyebrows, saying: “So you're saying that if Lex had been Clark's age or something, you wouldn't had minded it if some older woman was preying on him?? Seriously?”

Jonathan sighed. He didn't really want to start up an argument with his wife, not after he had almost lost her. So He just tried to reason with her.

“No, that's not what I was saying. Even if Lex was Clark's age, he still wouldn't be ready to handle sex just like Clark. although I'm sure that both of them would fully disagree with me once their hormones kicked in. However, you have to admit that a teenage boy wouldn't be traumatized if some older woman went after him.... heck, he may even brag to all of his friends about the experience. It's different than a teenager girl's experience with older men.”

Martha plopped her head back on the pillow, dismayed at this double-standard her husband seemed to have. “Well, what if Lex is truly gay? Then he wouldn't get any enjoyment out of some adult woman chasing him. Would you still say the same thing if he went around bragging that some older man had been after him and that they had sex? I bet you'd be saying that the older man was a pedophile. Just think of a heterosexual teenager getting traumatized by some male pedophile... now consider that a gay teenager might be equally traumatized by a female pedophile. Pedophilia isn't constrained to the male gender, you know.”

Jonathan stammered a little bit... but he had to admit that Martha was right. “Alright, so Maria would be just as much of a pedophile as any other adult man would be if she actually slept with Lex. You're absolutely right. But... have you actually asked Lex about what really happened? Nell was high on the flower pollen, you know. So her story might not had been exactly reliable...”

Clark just sat there, half listening to what his parents were saying. Mostly he was in shock... all he had heard was that Lex might be gay, and being molested by Maria.

He didn't want to believe it at all, and now he was frantically going over every memory, every incident he had witnessed regarding Lex and or Maria. In hindsight there was a lot of signs that Lex might be interested in Clark, you know, THAT way. Okay, no problem... Clark could deal with that... sorta.

Maria on the other hand... Maria didn't exactly act like a “real teacher”, much less dress like one. However, She also had shown no signs of being sexually interested in anybody, much less Lex. She had flirted with Clark at first that one time, but had stopped when she found out that Clark was 14 going on 15. She hadn't believed it at first, saying that Clark looked way too old to be a teenager.... and actually looked disappointed that Clark was in fact, actually younger than he looked.

She had said that it was a shame, because Clark was clearly born to be a “sub”... (whatever that meant at all, Clark had no idea), and to call her up when he turned 18.

At the time, Clark had been flattered and didn't think much of it afterward... mainly because Maria hadn't flirted with him anymore after that.

But what if that had been a sign that she was interested in younger boys, and had been testing him to see whenever he knew the law or not? Maybe she only went after the ones that she knew wouldn't get her in trouble..? Ugh, that was such a disturbing thought. It got even more disturbing when he considered the implication of Lionel actually hiring her to sleep with his own son....

“I know... which is why I need to ask Lex first before I do anything else. At any rate, I don't think that Lex should be allowed to stay at the Mansion with both Lionel or Maria if this happens to be true. I could call the police station and get them to allow me to have Lex while they sort this out with Lionel.” Martha was saying to Jonthan.

Clark stood up quickly. “Lex just left with Lucas 5 minutes ago... maybe they're still around? I could find them and bring them back so that you could ask him right now?”

Before Martha and Jonathan could say anything, Clark then ran out the door.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lucas led Lex outside towards the back of the hospital, instead of going to Luca's car parked out front. Lex thought this was kind of strange, but he followed Lucas anyway.

Lucas started chuckling. “What is it about you that Lionel favors over me? I mean, look at you... you're a bald freak who won't even age normally! Yet I'm expected to play the failure who doesn't know jack-shit about management...”

“Um, Lucas?” Lex wondered what was going on.

“You want to know the real reason why Lionel brought me out here? It's because of that stupid plant. He just took one look at those damage done by the earthquake... and decided all along that he would be closing the plant. But … if he was just to do that on his own, he would become public enemy number one in town! And of course he couldn't have that... so he decided to put up the pretense that he would try to keep the plant open for everyone's sake. And of course, he would put his son in charge of the rebuilding project. This way, he could lie later on and say it was due to poor management on my end, and that I had cost him way too much money making poor decisions in the rebuilding project!”

Lucas was in full ranting mode, and weren't paying any attention to Lex, who had been trying to interrupt him in order to ask him what was going on here.

“And you know something? This isn't the first time he's done this to me... Five times he pulled that same stunt with other factories and companies that he wanted to close! That's one of the reasons why the Board of Directors doesn't want me in charge of Luthor-Corp once Lionel retires... Daddy Dearest made it so that I'd always be a fuck-up in everyone's eyes.”

“That's... terrible. I'm sorry.” Lex replied, not sure what he was supposed to say in response to that.

Lucas whirled around to face his young brother. His eyes started taking on a suspicious glint. “On top of it, I don't think I'll ever be granted the entire Luthor fortune as long as you're around. I could have dealt with not being in charge of Luthor-Corp as long as I had that money. I was satisfied with my lot in life, but then you came into the scene and messed up everything...”

'Oh crap, he must had been affected by the flower...' Lex finally realized it too late. He turned to run, but Lucas grabbed him and pulled him back into the area where nobody would see them. He then shoved Lex against the building.

Lex's head banged against the brick wall, and he collapsed to the ground. He feebly tried to get up and away from his older brother, but Lucas was more experienced at coming out on top in a fight. So he was actually stronger than he looked... because Lex literally couldn't fight him off, despite the fact that they were almost the same height and build.

Lucas had him pinned down, and then he moved to choke the life out of Lex.

Lex tried to scream for help, but nobody was around to help. Lucas was now giggling madly, and for some bizarre reason he was now sporting an erection which he rubbed against Lex's hips.

He banged Lex's head against the concentrate ground, as he squeezed Lex's neck. Lex gasped for breath, trying with all his might to shove Lucas off him. However it proved feeble and his tears felt like molten lava against his cheeks.

Lucas giggled again. “You know, it's a shame you're my brother... you look so pretty bloodied up like this, that I kind of want to fuck you right now.... I wonder what it'd be like to fuck you to death?”

Lucas rubbed his erection against Lex's body again, and Lex couldn't help but shudder in revulsion at the thought that Lucas might do such a thing to him. But he no longer had the strength to struggle, and there was darkness creeping in at the edges of his vision...

He couldn't help but wish desperately that Clark would come here. Clark always protected him at times like this....

All of a sudden Lucas went flying, and Clark appeared over Lex looking both pissed off and scared.  
A few feet away, Lucas landed with a loud thud and then passed out.

“Lex!! are you alright??” Clark picked him up, automatically holding him like one might do with a little kid, despite the fact that Lex was too big for that now.

Lex gasped for breath, but now his neck was sporting some serious bruises. And it actually hurt his windpipe just to breathe. He felt some dampness on the back of his head, so he ran his right hand over his head.... and came away with blood on his hand.

Seeing that blood really drove the realization home for Lex... he would had really died here for real if Clark hadn't been here at all. Lex started sobbing, wrapping his arms around Clark's neck.

“Shh, it's alright... he can't hurt you now...” Clark said in a soothing tone of voice, as he held Lex. He glanced over at Lucas, and briefly x-rayed Lucas just to make sure that he hadn't hurt him too badly, or worse, killed him.

Clark had arrived at the very last minute, just in time to catch Lucas's comment about fucking Lex to death. Clark now knew what they meant about “seeing red” because he had been suddenly filled up with rage, and his eyes started to see everything in a red hue. Before he knew it he had sent Lucas flying.

His eyes still had that burning sensation, like they were about to be set on fire any minute now. He blinked it back, and then they felt normal again once he started to calm down.

He looked down at Lex, who was still sobbing heavily into his shoulder. 

Jeez, what was with the whole Luthor family besides Lex? Lionel couldn't be trusted because he had hired Maria to sexually molest his own son.... that is, if the allegations made by Nell was true. And now Lucas was part of the abuse too??

Even if the claim about Lionel was false, they couldn't still let him go back as long as Lucas were living at the mansion! He would run away with Lex if he had to.... he could easily transport Lex anywhere he wanted to, and not even his parents could stop him if they actually let Lex go back to his own home. This way not even Lionel could get his parents in trouble for “kidnapping” Lex... it would be all on Clark solely. But he was getting ahead of himself... he had to see what his parents would do first.

His mind made up, he picked up Lex and walked back into the hospital. Luckily for Clark there was cops standing around in the lobby who were talking to the doctor in charge of the chaos going on.

Clark ran over to them, and told them that he had seen Lucas attacking his own brother before collapsing. Oh, and he thinks it might be related to that flower who was making everyone loco?  
Lex just nodded when the cops asked him if it was true.

Both the Doctor and Cop rushed out to help Lucas when Clark told them the location where he “collapsed”.

He then bride-carried Lex all the way up to Martha's hospital room, ignoring the stares from the hospital staff. Lex just buried his face into Clark's neck, and was silent the whole way up. It was obvious that he had been badly scarred by what happened down there. However, his demeanor changed soon as they got to Martha's room.

“Martha! You're alright!!” Lex exclaimed happily when he saw that she was up. He slid out of Clark's arms, and ran over to her side. 

Martha grinned, as she hugged Lex. “Yes, I'm alright.” She then frowned when she saw the giant bruise forming around Lex's neck, and noticed that the back of his head had some really horrible bloody scratches. “But what happened to you??”

Lex bit his lip, looking unsure how to answer. He didn't exactly want to talk about the whole thing at all. 

“It turns out that Lucas was affected by the Nicodemus flowers too... he was attacking Lex outside when I caught up to them. And he was saying some very disturbing things to Lex...” Clark told his parents, looking grim.

“Are you alright? Maybe we should get you a doctor...” Jonathan frowned, looking at Lex.

Lex just shook his head. “No, I'm fine. I heal fast, so.... it'll just go away on its own.”

Both the adult Kents exchanged looks with each other over this.

“Lex...” Martha said, “I need to ask you something. Before I was dosed with the flower pollen, Nell was telling me some disturbing things about Maria.Well, only you can tell me if it's true,”

Lex didn't know what was going on here. But he nodded nonetheless.

“Lex... is it true that your father... hired Maria to have sex with you? If so, have she ever done that to you?” Martha asked bluntly, because she didn't know how she could have asked it delicately.

Lex blushed a little bit, because he was embarrassed that the Kent family had found out about that. Lionel's idea of what constituted a rite of passage for young men, were just too embarrassing for words.

“Um, yeah. It's true that my father did hire her for that purpose... um, he said that I was turning into a young man so as a Luthor I might as well know everything about sex. And no, Maria isn't supposed to do it with me right away... just right after I'm to complete all the courses on biology and sex eduction. Which might take years? But my father wants me to be fully experienced as a young man. Says it's a rite of passage?” Lex rambled slightly.

Jonathan let out a loud sigh at this. “Well... it's not as bad as you thought it was, Martha. Sure it's still creepy and strange, but Lionel's actually holding off until he's older it seems. That's something at least.”

Before Martha could even say anything in response, Clark blurted out: “But Lucas is a big threat too! Before I stopped Lucas from hurting Lex anymore, I actually heard him say that he would enjoy fucking Lex to death! And he had....” Clark's face then grew red, as he hated saying the “E” word in front of his parents. “A.... erection.... while he was strangling Lex. So I know that he really meant it!”

He stared at his parent determinedly. “So that's why I don't think we should let Lex go back to his home until Lucas goes away!”

Both Martha and Jonathan was completely horrified to hear this. They couldn't imagine that Lex's own brother wanted to kill him, much less rape him!

“Lex, is this true??” Martha gasped.

Lex winched, and subconsciously moved closer to Clark for both comfort and protection. He then nodded.

“That goddamn bastard... I knew I couldn't trust him at all...” Jonathan muttered.

Martha started tearing up. “Oh, Lex. I'm so sorry. Nobody should have to go though that, not ever...”

Both adults looked at each other, and Jonathan nodded. He got up, saying: “I'm going to bring the police and Lionel in here. Lionel will have no choice but to let us have Lex for a very long while after we tell the police everything we know.”

Clark smiled softly, and then hugged Lex. He was relieved, he didn't have to do such a drastic thing like “kidnapping” Lex and running away with him. He didn't know why he thought that his parents wouldn't side with him on this one to start with... of course his parents understood and agreed with him fully!  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To say that Lionel had been furious was a understatement. He had been in total denial that Lucas would have done such a thing to Lex, and said that Lucas wasn't a child abuser at all!

He then said that people shouldn't be judged for what they did while they were high on Nicodemus flowers... and that in fact the police station was already pardoning the entire town for the public disturbances now that they knew what was behind it. So, why should Lucas be held accountable for his actions when he didn't even know what he was doing?

Martha then angrily told him to take a look at Lex, and asked if Lex honestly looked alright at all.  
“ Lex does know that it wasn't Lucas's fault that he was affected by the flower... but psychologically, he was almost murdered by his own brother. That's going to be something that he needs to recover from.... and he'll be forced to relive the trauma each time he sees Lucas, if he isn't given time to recover.”

Lionel just scoffed. “Lex's a Luthor....and Luthors are made out of sterner stuff than that!”

The cops who were there with Lionel told him: “Sir, the Kents do have a point. May I suggest having Lucas come in after he wakes, just so we can see how Lex reacts to him? If Lex reacts negatively to him.... then he may have to stay with the Kents until Lucas leaves, or until we can appoint an psychologist to help the brothers get back on even footing with each other, and get past what happened.”

Clark just rolled his eyes. “Seriously, why aren't we telling them about the part where I caught Lucas about to rape Lex?? Lucas is clearly a pervert, and the flowers just brought out that part of him!” He said this out loud, and afterward you could had heard a pin drop.

Lionel's eyebrows were twitching, and he looked like he had sucked a very sour lemon. One of the cops finally asked: “That's a very serious allegation, son. Care to tell me the whole thing from the start? And of course we would need Lex here to confirm it.”

Clark told them the whole thing, how Martha had wanted to ask Lex something. And that he had rushed downstairs in the hopes of catching Lucas and Lex before they left. And how he had overheard Lucas wondering aloud what it would be like to fuck his brother to death. Clark blushed again when he had to bring up the erection part too, but he had to say it in order to emphasize that Lucas might had been very serious about the rape threat.

“....And was he.... you know, touching Lex inappropriately?” The cop asked, as he was writing this all down in his notepad.

“Well, no. But he was strangling Lex very hard, and banging Lex's head against the pavement at the same time. If I hadn't stepped in, Lex would had died for sure!” Clark replied.

The cops then questioned Lex, who had clung to Clark like a lifeline while he was forced to relive the whole thing for the records.

The policeman in charge then sighed. He turned to Lionel. “You have to admit this does complicate things. There's a high possibility that the flowers made him do something that he would never do normally. But still, to speak of rape so casually while strangling his little brother... well, that can leave plenty of profound psychological issues to deal with... not to mention the effect it would on their relationship afterward.”

He shook his head. “You left Martha in charge of your younger son's well-being, did you not? So in this case I would recommend that you take Martha's advice, sir. She does seem to know what she's doing. Let Lex recover at their farm for a while, and you can find a good psychiatrist to sort out this whole mess.”

Lionel still looked like he was sucking on a very sour lemon. But he nodded anyway. “You might be right... Very well. I'll have some of Lex's clothes and things sent over.”

Just like that, the tension drained out of the Kents. They did their best not to smile or even act overjoyed at this news....considering the situation. Besides, that would had been highly inappropriate too, considering how much Lex suffered.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Things quickly went back to normal, sort of. Everyone who had been brought to the hospital due to the flowers, had been released overnight once they were cured.

The next morning, It seemed as if almost everyone in town was embarrassed over their actions, and were doing their best to apologize to everyone... or go into hiding out of sheer shame. People couldn't even look in each other's eyes. It would take a few days for people to get over it, that was for sure.

Clark stopped by the Talon, trying to find Chloe. It was mainly because he felt guilty for abandoning her at the Torch office... even forgetting about her entirely when his mother collapsed.

It turned out that she was drinking chocolate milkshakes with Lana in one of the farthest corners in the Talon, where anybody couldn't see them easily.

“God... I can't believe what I was wearing yesterday. I was dressed like a ten-cent hooker! I actually paraded around school with my buttcheeks hanging out of my red shorts!” Chole moaned, as she hid her red face. It looked like she had been crying.

Lana was crying quietly too. “Yeah? Well at least you weren't having some very public sex out in the hallway, like I was. Whitney's my boyfriend, but I still wanted to wait until we were ready for my first time... I wanted that moment to be special. But now that's totally ruined! And on top of it, the entire school now knows what we both look like naked and having sex together...”

Chloe breathed deeply at this. “Alright, you win. What happened with you were definitely worse than me dressing up like a hooker. At least I didn't do anything with anybody... far as I remember...”

They then comforted each other, giving each other half-hugs.

Clark felt badly for eavesdropping on this conversation... and were torn between going up to them or just leaving them alone. Thinking it over, he wisely choose to leave them alone for now.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back at the Kent house, Lex was unpacking his things in the guest room that was to be his temporary bedroom.

He couldn't still believe it... he got to live with the Kents for a while, however long that lasted. This was going to be different than just sleeping over on the weekends, that was for sure.

The whole thing sort of felt weird, but he had to admit that he was relived that he didn't have to hang around with Lucas anymore. He very well knew that Lucas couldn't be held accountable for what he did the other day, but there was still the issue of the bullying or teasing that Lucas did on a constant basis.

Clark came into the room, and smiled at Lex. “Have you finished unpacking all your things yet?

Lex grinned back. “I just have to hang up some more clothes, and I'm done.”

“Well, let me help. It's dinnertime soon...”

After that was done they both went downstairs, and it turned out that Martha was making her homemade fried chicken for dinner. There was also the honey biscuits and mashed potatoes.

Lex's mouth watered when he saw the food spread out on the dinner table, and It smelled so good too! 

“Gee, your mom really outdid herself tonight..this looks delicious!” Lex exclaimed, as he raced over to the table.

Clark grinned. “She only makes this like once a blue moon... but I'm always glad when she does! She basically has to chase me out of the house whenever she makes fried chicken... otherwise I'd be sneaking bites behind her back!”

Jonathan chuckled, having overheard this as he walked in from the living room. “It's true... But then again, Clark's always sneaking food from the kitchen any other time... he's such a glutton. Right, Clark?”

Clark rolled his eyes at this, but he nodded anyway. “Hey, I can't help it... I'm still a growing boy!”

With that, they shared a laugh. Martha came in, and told them that it was now time to eat.

So with that, they sat down to eat. They then chattered about anything and everything. How that pregnant cow was doing, What Clark's grades in school were, and that sort of thing.

It was all so normal, like it was any other weekend where Lex stayed over. However, Lex couldn't help but notice how they were doing their best to avoid talking about the current events. Almost like they were afraid of how it might affect him...

“It's okay, you don't have to tiptoe around me when it comes to talking about.... well, you know.” Lex told the other residents at the table.

This almost cut down all conversation at the table entirely, but them Martha piped up. “That's not it, honey. We just didn't want to make you uncomfortable. We just felt that it would be better not to force the topic on you until you were ready to talk about it.”

Lex smiled at this. “I'm fine, really. I don't really blame Lucas for what happened... I know he wasn't himself at all.”

Clark frowned. “But he's been treating you horribly the whole time he was here! I've seen it with my own eyes! How do I know he hasn't done something like this before and you're not just saying this because he's family?”

“Because the worst he ever did was tease me by flirting with you. He knew it would always make me angry each time.” Lex answered.

“He what??” Jonathan stood up, angry. No grown man was going to flirt with his underage son!

“It's okay, Lucas flirts with everyone he sees! He doesn't really mean anything by it!” Clark tried to calm down his father.

But Jonathan wasn't having any of that at all. He growled. “That's not the point, son. A grown adult man should not be flirting with underage people... that ain't right at all! And especially not with my son. I don't care what his reasons for doing that was.”

Martha looked slightly uncomfortable, but she nodded. “Your father's right, Clark. If he's willing to flirt with underage people, who knows how long before he was willing to take it further than so-called harmless flirting? We've had that talk about what to do when an adult does to do bad things with you or your body... so you know well as I do that what he's doing could be construed as pedophilic behavior. Flirting with people who haven't even reached drinking age, much less thinking about them in a sexual way... That's not only illegal, but morally wrong!”

Jonathan then told Clark and Lex: “You boys better tell me the next time he does it again. I'll have some strong words for him then, and ensure that he never does it again.”

Knowing that any other response would only upset his dad, Clark just nodded.

“I don't want to talk about this anymore...” Lex mumbled, missing the happy carefree atmosphere that had been here just now until this topic came up. Maybe he shouldn't had brought it up in the first place.

After that, the group was silent for a while as they ate.

Martha then spoke. “I've been thinking. How would you like to go to school with Clark, Lex?”

“ Um... I would love to go, but my father won't let me go. He says that the public schools around here are lacking when it comes to good education. Besides, according to my tutors I'm almost done with all the high school classes. In a few more months I may be starting college courses...” Lex replied, a little sadly.

He really wanted to go to school with Clark, and just generally be with him all day, every day.... But he couldn't, because apparently he was far too intelligent for normal school. It really sucked to be him sometimes.

Martha smiled. “There is more to school than just education. It's all about being able to socialize with people, learn how to forge good relationships, and most importantly, how to deal with people you don't like. Quite frankly, I think you're in sore need of socialization. Spending all this time cooped up at the mansion and here won't prepare you for when you need face to face socialization in both business and social settings. I think your father will agree with me on this when I bring this up with him. But even if he doesn't agree with me, I think I'll still be sending you with Clark to school sometimes in the next few days. I have the papers here, I just have to write them up and send them back to school... and then after that you'll be registered as a student at Smallville.”

Lex perked up at this. “Really?? when did you have the time to do this?”

Martha smiled. “Well, I was playing around with that idea for a long while now...especially when I noticed that Clark was basically the only friend you had here in Smallville, and I thought you needed more friends. So I asked the school for the registration papers a while back. Having you live here with us, was just the push I needed to finally fill out the papers.”

“Awesome!” Lex exclaimed. He had always wondered what it would be like to go to school with Clark, and now his wish was coming true.

Clark and the others grinned at Lex's evident happiness. Martha was now discussing the topic with Clark, talking about what he could do to help Lex fit in at the Smallville High School.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Night quickly came, and now it was bedtime.

He shifted, and turned around in his new bed. He hadn't slept in the guest room before, and had no idea how horrible this bed really was. He could feel every spring in this mattress, and there was almost zero padding at all. He couldn't sleep at all!

Yeah, he had slept over at the Kent farm on the weekends before.... but usually he slept with Clark in his bedroom. Lex slept in a sleeping bag or curled up against Clark in bed most of the time.

Maybe that was the problem... he had gotten way too adjusted to sleeping with Clark whenever he stayed over. And now that he had his own room officially, he couldn't sleep!

With that thought, he sighed and got out of bed. 

The door creaked quietly when he opened the door, and he then tiptoed down the hall. The adult Kents' bedroom was located right between Lex's room and Clark's room, so he had to be careful not to wake them up when he was moving towards Clark's room.

Clark's door made the same quiet creaking noise as it opened, which caused Clark to shift in his bed.

Clark then sat halfway in bed, rubbing his eyes. “What is it?”

Lex whispered, “Sorry, but I can't sleep. Can I sleep with you?”

Clark was silent for a few seconds, and then nodded. He lifted the covers so that Lex could get in.

Lex smiled, and crawled into bed. He couldn't help but let out a sigh of contentment as he snuggled up against Clark's warm body. It was like having a personal bed heater that could cuddle with you. Sure, sleeping with Clark was equally as lumpy and sometimes uncomfortable as that mattress back there, but at least here he was WARM. He hated it when those cold beds took a while to warm up.

Maybe that was the reason why he couldn't sleep without Clark whenever he was here. 

Clark pulled the blanket over them and held Lex close to him, murmuring that everything was going to be okay. Lex fell asleep quickly with a small smile on his face that lasted for hours.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Clark was having the best erotic dream ever. There was making out, naked bodies writhing against each other. The body he held felt so real, with such smooth skin that he couldn't help but pet. And that breathy voice calling out his name sounded so familiar too, but it was just as hot as everything else was. But the best part was how their hard cocks kept on rubbing against each other as they made out....

Hey, wait a minute... wasn't he supposed to be making out with a woman, not a guy...?

In his confusion, he slowly started to wake up. That voice was still calling out his name, and that was when he realized that Lex had been actually calling his name for the past few minutes. And they were both hard, rubbing against each other. Well, more like Clark had been rubbing himself against Lex! 

Clark woke up fully with a start, and quickly realized that he had pinned Lex against the ceiling this whole time! He had been floating in his sleep again. Lex looked uncomfortable as he pleaded: “Clark, please wake up... I don't like heights! Clark....”

They both fell, crashing into the bed with a loud thud. Lex landed safely on top of Clark.

Lex started giggling. “Well, that was kind of cool....even if I don't like heights.”

Clark was completely freaked out right now. What the heck was that? The floating thing he was getting used to, but what was with those erotic dreams?? He had been dreaming about doing *IT* with LEX!! Lex, who was currently just a kid... even if he had a very nice mature body...

Oh god.... that was so wrong!! It was clear by now that he couldn't blame this on the flowers or even on Lucas Luthor. Something was very wrong with him.

His mom peered into the room. “Clark, are you alright?”

Clark managed to croak out: “Yeah, mom. I'm alright... I just did the floating thing again.”

Lex wondered aloud, “Does this mean you might be able to fly one day? That would be so cool!”

Martha frowned. “Lex, what are you doing in here?”

“I couldn’t sleep by myself last night, so I went to sleep with Clark.” Lex replied honestly.

Martha gave him a small smile. “I understand. But you're growing up, honey. I don't think you should be so dependent on Clark... you need to learn how to sleep by yourself. Anyway, Breakfast is ready downstairs... you boys better get ready for the day.”

Lex went back to his room to get dressed, so Clark was able to mull over his thoughts in peace. 

Fully dressed, he walked down to breakfast. His mom had made his favorite kind of pancakes, the kind with apples in it... but not even that could lift his spirits. He was quiet throughout breakfast, and only uttered a few words when his parents asked him what was wrong. He told them that he was fine, and then super-sped out of the house.

He could hear Lex asking back home when he got to go to school with Clark... and then tuned out before he could hear his mom's answer. 

He couldn't believe it at all... he was one of those perverts. He had thought that he had enough common sense and self-control to the point where he would never be attracted to somebody so young. Okay, he could look at this problem rationally....

He didn't become sexually attracted to Lex when he first came here. Why was that? Because he had still looked like a normal 9-year-old. It was only halfway though the year, when Lex had started looking like he was around Clark's age, that Clark started to become attracted to him.

So it could be argued Clark was physically attracted to Lex only because he now LOOKED older than he really was. So Clark still wasn't attracted to little kids... that's just his body for some reason couldn't tell apart older kids and little kids who had a body that was highly mature for their age.

Kind of like how some men couldn't help but feel attracted to 14-year-olds that had the body of a 20-year-old. Those guys couldn't be really called proper pedophiles because they were attracted to somebody who looked like she was 20 instead of her actual age. They would only be sexual offenders at the most if they actually acted on their desires. A proper guy did the right thing by staying away from girls like that if they knew her real age.

And it seemed that Clark was in that same situation.... It made him feel a little bit better to think that he wasn't a true pedophile.... but it still didn't solve the problem of feeling sexually attracted to Lex just because he now looked like Clark's age! He couldn't just stay away from Lex, they were now living in the same house. And Lex was most likely going to climb into his bed late at night all the time now.

Yeah, that was going to be hell on his self-control.

He really needed something that could distract him... maybe even cure him of those perverted feelings!! Something like a girlfriend.

But Lana would never go for him.....she had Whitney. And It wasn't like anybody else were interested in him...

He stopped speeding when he was within sight of the school. He then jogged up to the front doors, where Chloe was chatting with Pete.

It was then that inspiration struck. 

Of course! Chloe had all but confessed that she had a thing for him! And of course Chloe was perfect... she was sexy, and a nice girl who could easily cure him!

Normally he would had never gone for her, too afraid to ruin their friendship or something like that. But this was basically a real emergency.... and if Chloe ever found out, he was sure that she would understand....right??

He just had to think of how he could talk Chloe into being his girlfriend... Chloe didn't seem like the type who would instantly say yes, despite the fact that she apparently had a crush on him for a long time. Chloe would wonder whenever he had gotten over his interest in Lana and stuff... After all she would find it strange that Clark apparently got over his crush so fast when days earlier he had been just salivating over her.

Yeah, he had to go about that carefully, or else she was going to chew his head off.

He walked around school in a deep daze, as he was preoccupied with how to talk to Chloe. Finally, just after lunch time Clark finally found the perfect way to break the “good news” to Chloe.

He found her in the torch office, typing up the article regarding the flower incident.

“Hey.” Clark murmured, getting Chloe's attention.

Chloe smirked. “Hey. What were up with you today? You seemed really out of it all day....”

Clark blushed slightly. “Sorry... I was just thinking a lot about what you told me the other day.”

Chloe frowned. “The other day...? I don't recall us ever talking...?”  
Clark fidgeted. “Yeah, that's right... you wouldn't remember what with you being high on flower pollen and all. Sorry.”

Chloe paled at this, and then started to look deeply mortified now that she knew that Clark most likely saw her in that red hooker outfit. “I... I see. So, what did I tell you that had you so preoccupied all day...?”

She really hoped that it wasn't anything horribly embarrassing!

Clark shrugged. “Basically, you said that there was no way that Lana and I would ever get together. Mainly because I could never trust her with my secrets, and stuff like that. That I was just wasting my high school life chasing after a dream, and that it wasn't normal at all...”

Chloe still looked slightly uneasy at this... and as she was about to say an apology, Clark held his hand up.

“No, wait.... you were right about everything you said to me, at least I think so. As my friend, I want to tell you something... and I need you to be honest with me about whenever the reason I chase after her, is really normal or not.” Clark floundered a little, trying to get out what he was trying to say here.

Chloe rolled her eyes. “I think we all know why you chase after her... she's a very nice girl, and hot as hell too. There's no mystery to it, and is pretty normal as heck. Right?”

Clark blushed, flashing back to when he had watched Lana and Whitney about to get it on.

“Um, I won't lie about finding her physically appealing... but.... it wasn't the reason why I fixated on her.” As Chloe waited for Clark to get to the point of this conversation, Clark collected his thoughts before speaking.

“When I was little, my biggest fear was being found out by the town folk that I wasn't normal. I used to have nightmares that scientists would come and take me away from my parents. That they'd see me as nothing but a freaky mutant to be studied. And when I started grade school with all the other little kids... I saw how those other people were treating Lana. They were always so nice to her, because she had lost her parents and everything. All the boys always wanted to act as her protector, and be her boyfriend even if all of us were way too young to be dating at that point.  
I guess... that I thought if I started pretending that I really liked her too just like all the other boys did, that it would be one way for me to seem completely normal. That nobody would see me as this freak. And I guess along the way as I kept on pretending, parts of it started to feel real. Um.... I kinda convinced myself that it was real... the feelings I had for her? Or maybe I really did like her, but not in the way I convinced myself into thinking was love? Argh, I'm not really explaining this well.”

Chloe mulled this over. In a way it really did make sense, even if Clark worded it awkwardly.

It was definitely kind of weird the way Clark practically obsessed over Lana for so long ever since they were little kids, but the way Clark explained it made perfect sense. Chloe had been surprised to find out that Clark's mutant powers developed so early... but that must had been a really great motivator for a frightened little boy to start fitting in with the crowd any way he could! Even if it meant that he had to pretend to have a little boy crush on Lana just like every other boy in class did.

“Yeah, it does make sense that you wanted to fit in like that. But I'm still not sure what you're going with this....?” Chloe wondered.

“Well, um.... When you asked me if I could ever see myself sharing my secrets with her, if I ever got together with her in the future. That really got me thinking.... um, and I realized that you were right. I couldn't ever see myself telling her, much less trusting her with anything. And I'd have to do that, if I was to become her steady boyfriend... or even her husband.”

Chloe wouldn't admit this part to anybody, ever.... but a part of her couldn't help but feel good being told that she was absolutely right... especially regarding the topic of why Lana and Clark couldn't ever get together.

“Wow.” Chloe chuckled. “I never thought I'd see the day where you would admit that you and Lana weren't meant to be. Am I dreaming or what?” She then pinched herself, and then gasped in mock surprise that everything she heard and saw was in fact real!

Clark chuckled softly. He then sighed. “That's the real problem though... I've gotten so used to just pining after her for a whole decade that I don't know how to do anything else.. like dating girls. Like you told me before, it's no longer normal anymore... and I want to be able to say that I was just like any normal guy in high school... who had his share of girlfriends and stuff. I thought you could help me with this?”

Chloe raised her eyebrows at this. “You want me to set you up with dates?”

Clark shook his head. He then blushed. “No... I was kind of hoping that you would help me practice going out on dates... that we could go out together. Not as actual dates... but as friends helping out each other.... This way I would know what to do and stuff the day I go out on an actual date...?”

“So in other words, I'm your Date Coach?” Chloe looked highly skeptical.

Clark nodded. He then looked at Chloe with his specialized puppy dog eyes. “I'd still be treating you to everything though... I'd be taking you out to places, and stuff like that! So you'd get some benefits out of it though...”

Chloe took a deep breath as she pondered this. It was a really bizarre turn of events for her.... it was almost too good to be true. Not only was Clark declaring that he didn't really love Lana after all, which was something she had always wanted to hear for a long time, but now this?

She would had thought that Clark was being affected by the flower pollen, had Clark declared that he wanted her to become his steady girlfriend out of the blue just like that! And any other time she would had thought it to be some kind of horrible joke, even if this was something she had wanted for such a long time.

Clark still only saw her as a friend, but wanted her to become his coach in dating-related matters. That was actually realistic... So she knew that she wasn't dreaming, that Clark wasn't affected by anything that could alter his behavior or that he wasn't playing a horrible joke on her.

Chloe smiled. “Alright, I accept. I'll become your dating coach. Who knows? Maybe after a month with me you'll be able to find yourself a new steady girlfriend!”

This was the next best thing to actually dating Clark for real.... So of course she was going to milk it for all it was worth.

Clark gave her a highly relived but brilliant grin.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh, I wasn't happy with this part.... it was hard to keep the story flowing along smoothly... but I wanted Lex to get from A to B quickly. So I may have made a few mistakes along the way. ^^;; tell me if you caught any mistakes here!


	8. In which everyone's Jealous of each other

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The theme of this chapter seem to be mainly about Jealousy... everyone's jealous of each other, lol. didn't mean for it to turn out this way but it happened.

Lex had been enjoying life on the Kent farm so much that before he knew it, a whole week had gone by. Although it wasn't all sunshine and games for him.... he couldn't still get used to the fact that the Kents actually got up at 5am to do farm work! That was just too early for somebody like him...

And Lex was pretty sure that the chickens were secretly evil. They had to be, what with them being distant relatives of the T-Rex dinosaur. They kept on pecking and biting at him whenever he tried to collect their eggs... or they'd bum-rush him if they saw that he was about to feed them. He always wound up running from them every time. Well, until a few weeks ago anyway, when he finally learned that he had to just dump the contents of the food buckets first and THEN run. They didn't run after him if he left the food behind. Truthfully he felt just a little bit stupid for not realizing this sooner.

Lex was finally getting the hang of how to handle those chickens, but didn't really make the experience any better. Lex was sure that he was never going to eat eggs ever again in his whole life.... now that he found out that those chickens pretty much pooped those eggs out... and that you had to wash poop and other things off those eggs before you could even sell them.

Ugh, it was just so gross that people would even eat those knowing which body part of the chicken the eggs came from. 

But at least the manure mucking job managed to help build up Lex's muscles... He actually didn't look like an awkward-looking teenager anymore, much to his delight. Standing in front of his mirror every morning, he often thought that he now looked like an handsome, muscular 19-year-old man despite eating like a horse every morning and evening.

Lex was pretty sure that he was aging rapidly now that his sleeping beauty spell was broken... otherwise how could he explain what was happening to him? He just hoped that he didn't turn into a old man before the year was over... he wanted to stay like this for long as possible. 

For the first time in his life, he felt more like himself than ever... if that made sense. Lex supposed that going to the same high school as Clark had helped.

Lex didn't really make any new friends there.... most of the teenagers weren't sure how to treat a young boy who were apparently only nine years old yet looked like he could pass for nineteen now. So he just sat with Clark and his friends at lunchtime, and then doodled during class time.

That had helped with his self-esteem problems in the strangest way possible. Lex remembered excelsior prep school all too well, and how they had constantly bullied him because of his bright red hair. Lex had feared that the high school students were going to bully him because of his bald head.... and thus it'd be like Excelsior all over again.

However the total opposite happened... they ignored him. The students didn't treat him like he was anybody special... It wasn't done out of malice or hatred, they just simply saw him as a normal boy. to them, he was just that kid who were staying with the Kents for a while. Lex actually found that kind of relaxing. He often used to feel self-conscious because he was always the center of attention... but not anymore. This way it pretty much gave him time to discover new interests, and how to relax in an social setting.

He had discovered that he had a strong affinity for science and chemistry. Sure, his home-school tutors had talked him over the basics, but he had never been allowed to truly explore that on his own. But here in high school, he was basically allowed to explore everything that caught his interest.

This wasn't probably what Mrs. Kent had in mind when she said this would help Lex's social skills improve... but it did because it helped him learn how to be more like himself instead of trying to be what he thought other people wanted him to be.

Unfortunately, it didn't look like Lex and Clark's friendship was improving... if anything things seemed to get a little awkward between them for some reason. Lex used to have this mental image of what going to school with Clark would be like.

For some reason, Lex had naively assumed that Clark would dote on him just as much as he did at the Kent Farm and outside of school. But at school Clark was so occupied with other things such as schoolwork that he barely paid any attention to Lex. To make things worse Lex couldn't even sit next to Clark or Chloe during class-time, and had to sit all the way in the back because that was the only available chair left for him. So the only time he could sit with them and chat with them were during lunch time.

Having reality dump a bucket of ice-cold water all over his school fantasy hadn't been pleasant, but it had also served as a wake-up call for Lex. He had been so used to having people drop their personal lives for him and dote on him when he demanded it. After all, he was Lex Luthor.... people were supposed to do that if they cared for him and watched out for him.

But seeing this new side of Clark, just made him realize that there was more to Clark Kent's life than just being Lex Luthor's personal friend and protector. Clark had other duties to attend to, just like how he had to help out at his parents' farm.

At school, Clark was just this clumsy nerd who tended to coast though all classes with straight B+s in all of them, only allowing for the straight As to be occasionally thrown into the mix if it turned out to be a topic that Clark was passionate about. Lex found that kind of interesting actually... how Clark was able to consistently keep up a constant level of grades in every single class. Lex supposed this was another way Clark had to keep himself out of the public eye... doing just good enough to pass, but not too good that he caught the attention of the teachers.

It was kind of surprising that he had been the only one to notice that... Chloe herself didn't even notice it at all!

Speaking of Chloe.... it seems that she and Clark was some kind of item now. Ever since Chloe found out about Clark's secret, the two of them were closer now. In fact, it seemed as if the two of them were dating now.

Lex wasn't sure what to feel about that. On one hand, he was genuinely happy for Clark as his friend. After all, Clark seemed so happy and content around Chloe, as opposed to before when he had been gazing longingly at Lana Lang from afar. Anything that had Clark acting like a happy, healthy teenage boy was okay with Lex. After all, Clark should have the best of everything that life had to offer him.

But Lex had also had to admit that there was also a selfish side of him who didn't like this turn of events. The selfish side of him often whispered, “Why are you allowing this to happen? Clark is ours. He isn't allowed to belong to anybody else! Chloe could take him away from us forever....”  
That was basically his childish side throwing an inner tantrum because he no longer had Clark's full attention.

But he was in high school now, even if he was only a kid. In order to fit in, he had to act more mature... and that meant that he couldn't whine or act jealous about Clark and Chloe getting together. He could do that... he could be mature. 

This was just like being forced to go to his dad's boring parties and having to pretend to be the perfect, well-behaved son that his dad wanted him to be. He had done that dozens of times, and so he knew he could act like nothing was wrong.

But he did notice that Pete wasn't happy about it for some reason. Maybe Pete was unhappy with this new development for the same reason he was?  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pete grumbled under his breath slightly as he noticed that Clark and Chloe had came into the Talon together, and were acting so lovesick towards each other.

When this first started, they both had claimed that there was nothing going on. Chloe was only Clark's “Date Coach”, in the sense that Clark would take Chloe out and she'd tell him what to do and what not to do on a date. So that Clark could finally have the confidence to ask girls out without worrying that he would mess it up.

Pete had laughed, and had been cool with it at first... mainly because he thought this thing would only last a week before Clark messed things up so badly that Chloe gave up on him. He had even made a bet with Chloe about that.

After all, this was Clark! He was the kind of guy that most girls would give up on after a week.... mainly because Clark couldn't be dependable when it came to being on time for things. Clark was constantly late to school, to joining study groups, etc. So it was reasonable to assume that he would also be so late for his dates that it looked like he was standing them up.

Of course, the reason why Clark was constantly late to those things, is because strange things seemed to crop up around him. If it wasn't some random meteor freak that he had to go investigative, it was always something else that somehow prevented Clark from being on time. That was basically Clark Kent's life in a nutshell.

Pete sighed. He normally weren't the type to think such uncharitable thoughts about his best friend like this. That's just... he had this secret crush on Chloe for what seemed like forever. He had even managed to talk Chloe into going to the homecoming dance together earlier this year, even if it was only as friends. That had basically been his highlight of the year.

And now, it seemed like Chloe was about to become more than just a “Dating Coach” for Clark. It kinda looked like things were heating up between them... ugh.

Of course Clark didn't know about this crush of his at all... Pete had never told anybody that he liked Chloe. Not even Chloe herself. So it wasn't like Clark intentionally set out to betray his best friend like this. Besides, Pete knew that Chloe had this crush on Clark for a long while now....

That's just he never thought that Clark would actually reciprocate Chloe's feelings one day. Wasn't Clark supposed to be obsessed with Lana Lang or something??

Pete was startled as Lana Lang appeared at his side, as if he had somehow magically summoned her with a single idle thought.

“Here's your latte, Pete.” Lana smiled, as she handed him the drink.

Oh right... he almost forgot that he had actually ordered a latte. He had been too busy glaring at the newcomers out of pure jealousy.

Lana glanced over to where Clark and Chloe was sitting, and a strange expression came over her face. “Gee, They've been joined at the hips for a while now. But I have to say, they do look good together.”

That seemed like an compliment, but the way Lana said it, it actually seemed like jealousy.

Pete raised his eyebrows at Lana, not sure if he had actually heard the jealousy in Lana's voice. After all, Lana still was with Whitney... and had never once glanced in Clark's direction. She had plenty of chances where she could had taken up Clark on his offer to date, but never did. So what right did Lana have to be jealous about?

Lana glanced at Pete and as if somehow reading Pete’s mind, she then explained: “That's just I kind of envy them right now. Whitney's been so preoccupied with helping run his family's store now that his father's at the hospital. Between football, his family problems and the store.... he hardly has any left time to spend with me. I haven't even been out on a date with him for a month.”

Oh, that explained it, then. Pete shook his head. “I have to say I feel bad for Whitney though... it must had been so tough discovering that his father was knocking on death's door and then having to try to fill his father's shoes at the store. Yeah, I can see why he wouldn't be in the mood to go out right now.”

Lana nodded. “I knew it sounded so selfish of me when I said that... but sometimes the heart can't help but feel this way... even if your mind is telling you otherwise. You know what I mean?”

Pete nodded. That was how he was basically feeling about his two friends hooking up with each other right now. He knew logically that he should be happy for them if it turned out that they decided to date for real. He also knew that Chloe was in no way obligated to return his affections just simply because he liked her.  
But, his heart was basically telling him to feel the opposite.

Pete was about to tell Lana not to worry about how she felt... because it was just human nature to have those feelings. However before he could get a word out she suddenly fainted.

“LANA!” Pete yelled, as he quickly moved down to kneel by her.

This got the attention of everyone in the Talon coffee shop.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chloe had been in pure heaven for a while there. This whole thing had started out with her tackling this whole “dating coach” thing very seriously, as she coached Clark on how to be more confident around women.

But the more they went out together... the more she was starting to feel that those “practice dates” were actually the real thing. She had even tested Clark last time by asking him for a kiss at the door of her house after the pretend date was over, and he actually went for it!

The kiss had gone on for so long that Gabe actually appeared at the door and had to make a noise to let them know that he was standing right there. And then he just gave Clark this look that basically said: “So you're dating my daughter? I'll be watching you from on now.”

That had been kind of embarrassing a little bit, But she had been too happy with the kiss to act properly embarrassed by her overprotective father.

So it seemed as if Clark didn't mind the idea of dating Chloe for real. 

Chloe had this crush on Clark for a while, and she had given up on Clark ever reciprocating her feelings a while back thanks to the Lana obsession he had. But now it looked like one of her wishes were finally coming true. She just had to go for it!

So today she had planned to ask him out to the upcoming school dance over a cup of coffee. She even planned on wearing a pink dress. Normally it wasn't her thing to wear pink, but hey the occasion called for it. Once inside they headed for a table, and she had been about to ask Clark out when she was interrupted by Pete's shout.

She looked over, and Pete was kneeling by Lana Lang, who were now out cold.

Clark looked worried as he told Chloe to go call 911. She simply nodded, and fumbled for the phone while Clark rushed over to help Pete.

She then rushed over after the local 911 operator told her that the emergency responder was on the way. “They're on the way. What happened to Lana?”

Pete shook his head. “I have no idea. We were talking about her boyfriend's personal problems, when she collapsed.”

Clark was staring at Lana all over intently, as if looking for something. He then gasped.

Clark blinked, as he started up at Chloe with an stunned expression. He blurted out, “Lana's pregnant.”

Both Pete and Chloe gaped at this, as they stared at Clark.

“Dude, how would you even know? She doesn't look pregnant!” Pete were the first to recover from the shock, as he looked at Clark skeptically.

Chloe couldn't help but look over Lana's prone form, and she commented with a similar expression on her face: “She might had packed on a few pounds... but, I have to agree with Pete. She doesn't look pregnant.”

Clark flushed sightly. “I just know, okay.... I can tell.” He then glanced at Lana's stomach, “She seems to be a month along... uh, I think it was conceived around the time of the Nicodemus flower incident. So she may not even realized that she was pregnant...”

Chloe paled at this. Lana did tell her that she found out afterward that she had been having some very public sex with her boyfriend in the school hallways at the time. Considering how crazy everyone was at the time, she doubted that Lana or Whitney were even thinking about birth control or using condoms.

Lana had been so devastated to discover that she lost her virginity in such a public way after she recovered from the Nicodemus flowers. She had told Chloe that she had felt violated by the whole event. Especially since there was now video and some pictures of them floating around Smallville. To make things worse Whitney had wanted to pretend that the whole thing never happened, because he couldn't remember any of it. So Lana couldn't talk to Whitney about it.

And now this.

“Oh wow... this is basically the last thing she needs.” Chloe thought out loud. 

Pete nodded somberly. “Yeah, she was telling me that her relationship with Whitney wasn't so good now, and that he was occupied with his father's health problems. I don't think Whitney might react favorably to this news.”

Chloe shook her head. “Geez.” That was all she could say.

The paramedics arrived, and Clark got up to guide them over to where Lana was.

Lex Luthor arrived at that exact moment, and he stared as they lifted Lana into a stretcher.

“What's going on?” Lex asked, as he went over to Clark.

Clark just shrugged his shoulders, looking uncertain. “Lana passed out... that's all. She'll be fine, I think....”

“hmm, I think I'm gonna follow the paramedics to the hospital.... I want to be there for her when she wakes up. You guys coming with?” Chloe told them.

Clark nodded. “Yeah, I'll come with you.” He then looked at Pete and Lex.

Lex couldn't help but look regretful. “I'd like to come with, but I got recruited by our homeroom teacher to help the football players study at the Talon here. Apparently they can't play on the field if they don't pass... and it turns out that I have the highest grades in class this semester, so I have to help them.”

Pete just shook his head. “I'll just go tell Nell potter what happened. I think Lana needs family by her side at a time like this.”

Clark smiled approvingly at this. “Yeah, good idea. I'll see you around.”  
With that he turned around to follow Chloe, so he didn't see Pete's annoyed expression when he wrapped an arm around Chloe as the two of them went out the door.

Pete let out an gusty sigh. He really needed to find a way to deal with those jealous feelings of his before it got out of control. He didn't want to become some kind of massive jerk who threw an fit just because his two friends were dating each other.

Lex glanced at Pete and couldn't help but comment, “I see you're not happy about the development between Clark and Chloe.”

Pete just simply glared at Lex and walked away before Lex could even say anything to him. 

He wasn't in the mood to talk to Lex at all. As a matter of fact he had gotten by without even talking to Lex much at all this year, even if Lex now sat at their lunch table with Clark on a regular basis.

That was something that baffled Pete, though.

What the heck were a 10-year-old or whatever even doing in High school? Even if Lex were apparently some kind of super-genius who now looked like he could be a senior thanks to some freaky super-puberty thing he was going though, he definitely did not belong here. He didn't know what Martha Kent were thinking with that one at all. If anything, Lex should be making friends with people his own age, not High School kids!

Then Pete wouldn't have to deal with seeing some Luthor brat hanging off Clark's arm like some kind of lovesick puppy. Seriously, that kid gave off some seriously weird vibes whenever he was around Clark. It was like a cross between stalker-like behavior, childish idol worship, and...something else. It had been “cute” when Lex was just a tiny 9-year-old boy who literally looked up to Clark, but now it was just majorly creepy.

Seriously, just take a look at all of those movies or shows where an adult man who still acted like a little kid. They always gave off creepy vibes like they were supposed to belong in a horror movie or drama where they kidnapped kids. It was never cute or funny...expect for that movie with Tom Hanks in it. Tom Hanks had been funny in “Big.” That movie aside, it always ended up looking creepy no matter how much the writers tried to hand-wave it away as an “comedy”.

That was just how much Lex Luthor creeped Pete out, especially with his so-called innocent “Oh, I'm just a regular 9-year-old boy” act. Pete wouldn't be surprised at all if Lex turned out to be some kind of freaky meteor mutant... especially now that he was going though some kind of super-puberty. That couldn't be natural at all! 

However, He did see somebody else going though something similar. This somebody had been Clark.  
Pete still remembered the summer where Clark had been just a normal looking 12-year-old ….a very runty, skinny one at that. and then over the summer he suddenly had this growth spurt that turned him into this tall, muscular man. Honestly, even now at 14 years old he didn't exactly look like the other 14-year-old boys. Clark looked older than his actual age, in other words. Pete had joked for an entire month after that, that Clark had been taking steroids to help out at the farm.

Pete paused at that thought. Lex had been normal-looking for his age more or less until he started staying weekends at the Kent Farm before living there full-time. Then he had started growing up quickly, just like Clark. Huh.... maybe there was something in the water there?

A thought briefly came to him that maybe the adult Kents were feeding the kids something to make them strong and tall enough to help them out on the farm. Something like steroids.

Pete shook his head, as if to get that thought out of his head. There was just no way that Jonathan and Martha could ever do something like that... they weren't the type to exploit kids like that for such a reason. But maybe it was accidental, and simply something in the water like he first thought...? But he recalled that when he was younger, while he staying over there for lunch or dinner, Martha had always told him to eat all of his food otherwise he would never become tall and strong.

It seemed to be something she strongly believed in... like there was a direct link between food and boys turning into strong handsome men.

Pete shook his head again as he looked around for the Talon's phone. He then saw it in the back, and then rushed towards it. He started dialing Nell Potter's number.

He needed to get that crazy theory out of his head! There was just no way Jonathan and Martha could ever do something like that.... right?

He waited for the person on the other line to pick up... once the person did, he then started speaking into the phone. “Hello, Nell? It's Pete, Lana collapsed and had to be rushed to the hospital...... no, I don't know what really happened to make her collapse... she just fainted in front of me.... yeah.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Oh god.... I can't believe this. What are people going to think about me?” Lana whimpered slightly, as the doctors gave her the news.

Chloe was right by her side, holding her hand sympathetically. She then told Lana, “Everyone knows it wasn't your fault. After all it was the Nicodemus flowers... it's not like you were in control of yourself the whole time. Besides, I wouldn't be surprised if there was other girls in the same situation right now... considering how much it spread around town.”

Clark spoke up. “That's right. Besides, Whitney's at fault as much as you are... “

at the mention of Whitney, Lana just slumped back, her eyes starting to tear up again. “I doubt he'll even want to do anything with me thanks to this...”

Clark looked puzzled, as if he couldn't fathom the idea that Whitney could even want to leave Lana. “What do you mean by that? He loves you!”

“Well, he sure has a funny way of showing it lately.” Lana said bitterly. Before Chloe or Clark could even respond, She then told them to get out. “I need some time by myself to process this. Please leave.”

Outside the door, Chloe looked up at Clark with a troubled expression on her face. “Wow, she sure isn't taking this very well, is she?”

Clark sighed. “I don't blame her though... I don't think she ever thought she would ever be a teenage mother. In fact, I don't think that any of us ever thought she would be one...she's just too much of a good girl for that, you know?”

Chloe made an annoyed noise at this. “Okay, that's sort of sexist... you're basically saying that any teenage girl who ever thought about what it was like to have sex or had a mild sexual experience isn't a good girl at all. Which accounts for more than 90 percent of teenage girls in America alone. Also, I'm pretty sure that Lana Lang made out with Whitney plenty of times before...this was just simply the first time they took it an extra step forward. If you know what I mean.”

Clark looked slightly sheepish as he responded, “Okay, you do have a point. Girls are human beings with needs too, just like boys. Got it. But... surely you knew what I mean, right? Lana does tend to have this very prim and proper air about her.... that's why it's hard to even imagine her doing something like that...”

Chloe raised her eyebrows. “Wait a minute, are you telling me that you never once even fantasized about Lana Lang being naughty? Or ever fantasized about making out with her?”

Clark blushed slightly, feeling surprised at the fact that Chloe got that out of him despite the fact that Clark had been talking about something else entirely. 

“Uh, I tried that once or twice... but for some reason I never could get into that. The most I could picture were us waiting until marriage and stuff like that. I just thought she was way too pure and too innocent... It just didn't feel right.” Clark couldn't help but confess.

Chloe looked slightly shocked at this. “Wow. I mean, you told me before that you just wanted to fit in with everyone else, and that meant adoring Lana from afar just like all the other boys were doing... but I had no idea that you put her on such a high pedestal.”

The two of them moved to seats that were conveniently located just outside Lana's hospital room. As they sat down, Clark couldn't help but look anxious at Chloe's comment.

“Um, you say that as if it's something bizarre.... were I wrong to do that?” Clark asked her, because if he was coming off as a total freak despite his attempts to fit in, he had to know.

Chloe couldn't help but snort at this.   
She then looked up at Clark with one eyebrow raised as she told him: “Let me put it this way.... If you place somebody on such a high pedestal and only see them as some sort of infallible creature, you're setting up yourself for massive disappointment. As your dating coach, I have to tell you... you should try to go for somebody who you can really relate to. Somebody who's on equal ground with you, and who will always be there for you if you need it.” She paused at this, highly tempted to say 'somebody like me'. Instead, she finished with this sentence,  
“If you're constantly worshiping some so-called angel on a high pedestal, you won't get anything out of that but a extremely unhealthy relationship.”

Clark simply nodded as he listened to Chloe talk.

He then chuckled cynically. “Somebody I can relate to, huh? Too bad there aren't many people like myself... or if they exist, they're keeping themselves well-hidden. Meanwhile, mutants are out there causing trouble for me and others.”

Chloe smirked. “Well, not all of us have what it takes to be a heroic boyscout like you... I'll be honest... If I had powers too I'd be more than tempted to try using them for my own benefit.”

Clark looked over at her with an skeptical expression. “So you mean to tell me that you would go around hurting people?”

Chloe couldn't help but look annoyed. “What? No! I just meant that I might want to use it to gather information or something like that.”

Before Clark could respond, Nell Potter rushed around the corner and saw them.

“Where is Lana? I need to see her!” She demanded to know, with an anxious expression on her face.

Chloe pointed in the direction of Lana's room, and Nell rushed into there.

Around 10 minutes in there was the sound of Nell shouting at Lana from inside the room. The closed door muffled most of the sound but Chloe could still make out a few words as the sound carried.

“....how could......so irresponsible...didn't raise you to....”

Clark looked mildly shocked. “I can't believe that her aunt is blaming Lana for this! She wasn't even in control of herself at the time...”

Chloe sighed at this. “You have to realize that Nell Potter most likely didn't know about what occurred with Lana during the Nicodemus flower incident.”

Clark frowned at this. “But how could she not know? I mean, people were talking about Lana and Whitney for weeks after that incident.”

“Yeah, but most of those people were high school students. I doubt they'd even tell Lana's aunt about what happened then. Much less tell other adults what happened...” Chloe replied.

Clark had to admit Chloe had a very good point. “Still, maybe we should tell Nell that both Lana and Whitney weren't exactly in their right mind at all? Then maybe she could stop being so hard on Lana?”

Chloe couldn't help but scoff at this. Clark Kent might be coming to terms with the fact that he didn't love Lana Lang in the way he thought he did.... but he couldn't give up on trying to be Lana's protector. Figures.

Clark then looked though the walls to Lana's room. Lana was now crying openly, as her aunt Nell derided her for acting like some kind of floozy. 

“Even your mother had the sense to marry her high school sweetheart first before they got down to business, you know.” Nell was saying, “Now what will the townspeople think of us? God, this is so embarrassing and shameful!”

Lana actually got angry at this. “That's all you care about? Putting on appearances so that we're popular with the town? Guess what? You don't get to have the moral high ground, especially after what you did while you were high on flower pollen a month ago! I heard you tried to murder Lex's tutor.”

Nell couldn't help but flush angrily at this. “That's different!”

Lana crossed her arms. “How so? I'm a month along in my pregnancy, which matches up with the date when I had sex with my boyfriend while I was high on flower pollen. My boyfriend, who I've been with for over a year now, may I add. I was not in control of my actions, so I cannot be blamed for what happened to me and this resulting pregnancy. So you can just shove it.”

Nell tried to think of some counterargument against that, but Lana had effectively silenced her. So instead, she just pleaded with Lana. “Fine. But let's keep this between us for now? We can't have the neighbors finding out!”

Clark smiled as he stopped spying on the two of them. He then looked over at Chloe, who were staring at him strangely. “Never mind... seems that Lana can stand up for herself.”

It was just then that Martha Kent appeared around the corner, looking highly anxious. She was frantically talking with a female doctor about somebody. “Is he going to be okay?” Clark overheard her say.

The doctor simply nodded.

Clark couldn't help but suddenly feel worried, because what he overheard didn't sound good. So he got up and rushed over to Martha's side. “Mom, what are you doing here? What's going on?”

Chloe caught up too as well once she noticed what was happening, and couldn't help but look curious.

“Oh, Clark. I can't believe I was so careless... I hurt a little boy.” Martha still were highly upset, so she wasn't making much sense... at least not until she told them: “I was driving home with the groceries when I accidentally ran over a little boy. He's being checked over by the nurses right now.”

She then motioned for her son to follow her, as she went into a room where the young boy were being examined by doctors.

“And you're sure you don't remember anything else?” The female nurse couldn't help but look worried, as the doctor looked on.

The boy shook his head. “No, I only remember my name. It's Ryan.”

He seemed to be around 12-years-old, although he was possibly older than that. He had a fairly average-looking face, with brown hair and freckles.

They continued that line of questioning for a while as the Kents and Chloe watched, and finally the doctor came over to them.

“I have to say, this is very troubling.” The doctor told Martha. “He hasn't gotten a single scratch from being run over and the injures he does have seem to be from weeks ago. Yet for all intents and purposes, he's very healthy.”

Martha couldn't help but look slightly confused at this. “But how can that be? I mean, the memory loss is from the accident... right?”

The doctor sighed sadly. “ Yes, the memory loss could be from post-traumatic shock and most likely will return in 48 hours. But If I had to guess, I would say that maybe Ryan doesn't want to remember his past... because those bruises on his body seems to be caused by abuse, rather than being run over.”

Martha felt her body go cold at this revelation. How could somebody harm such a sweet-looking boy?  
But this did explain why Ryan was running outside alone late at night, in the middle of the road... 

She felt sick at the thought that there was somebody else besides Lionel Luthor who could do that to their own children. Why was it that people like her were never able to have biological children, while others who had no business being parents at all, were able to? Life wasn't fair at all.

“That's terrible. What are you going to do about him?” Chloe was asking, as she gestured at Ryan.

The doctor made a hmming noise at this. “Well, we're going to place him with social services... but they won't be able to come out here for a few days. So he's going to have to stay at the police station until they arrive.”

It was then that Clark finally spoke up. “Well in that case... why don't Ryan stay with us at the farm? I'm sure he would like that better than staying at a police station.”

Clark couldn't help but get the feeling that Ryan's parents were going to show up, and that there might be trouble... so naturally they needed to keep an eye on Ryan in case things got awry fast.

Martha smiled at the thought of taking Ryan home with her. Giving Ryan an warm place to sleep and eat would be the least she could do after accidentally running him over, after all. But...

“What about Lex, Clark? Martha's already taking care of you two... would you even have room for a third boy?” Chloe couldn't help but look dubious at this. 

Martha blinked at this for Chloe had basically voiced some of her worries.. even though she didn't quite think of it in that way. She had mainly worried about taking in a boy without talking it over with her husband first... considering that the house were already getting kind of crowded with Lex Luthor living there. 

Clark frowned. “Well, It's not like we're going to permanently take him in, you know... I'm sure Lex can share his guest bedroom with Ryan. Or the three of us could always camp out downstairs in front of the TV... it could be fun. This way we could get Ryan to relax, and maybe coax some information out of him.” 

Chloe simply nodded at this. “That does make sense, I suppose.”

The doctor smiled. “Well, I guess it would be okay if Ryan stayed with Martha and Jonathan...” He then looked to Martha for confirmation.

Martha nodded, smiling back. “Well, it's certainly the least I could do after running him over. I just hope Jonathan will be okay with this unexpected turn of events.”

Chloe grinned. “I could also help out by trying to look up information on this boy online... if you want me to.”

Clark smiled back, and simply nodded.   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To say that both Jonathan and Lex were surprised would be an understatement. However they didn't have any objections at all once they learned the whole story behind why Ryan had to stay at the Kent Farm.

The new boy didn't say much as he sat with them during dinner that night... and would had been silent the rest of the time if it wasn't for Lex realizing that Ryan had an rare warrior angel comic book in his possession.

“I can't believe you actually have issue #66! Do you know how hard it is to find one now that it went out of circulation?” Lex exclaimed, as he snatched it out of Ryan's backpack.

“Lex!” Martha couldn't believe how rude Lex was being.

Ryan smiled. “ I don't mind, Mrs. Kent.” He then turned to face Lex. “You like Warrior Angel too?”

Lex simply nodded. “Just got into it a while ago when I first moved here. It also helps that Clark has his own Warrior Angel collection that I can read anytime I want...since my father won't let me buy them. He says it's a waste of time and money.”

Ryan then looked between Clark and Lex. “So what do you two like about Warrior Angel?”

“Um.. well. Warrior Angel is basically this guy who came to earth from another planet, and often feels like an outsider. Despite the fact that he feels like such a outsider, he often does his best to be a good person and help others out. I can't help but relate to that, you know? I mean... I'm at this age where I feel like I can't fit in anywhere, so I know how Warrior Angel feels.” Clark explained.

Lex smiled, and subconsciously ran an hand over his smooth head. “For me, it's the fact that he's a bald superhero. I mean, in most stories it's always the bald guy who's the villain or something like that. It's like popular media is saying there's something wrong with being bald... that in order to be a good person, you have to be good looking. I like how Warrior Angel basically subverts that. A lot of times, he can be misunderstood but despite this he does his best anyway. I really like that.”

Ryan smiled back at this answer. “I see. For me I really like him because he protects people who don't have the power to protect themselves.” His smile faded, as his expression took on an wistful air. “I often wished that he would just show up and save me...”

Martha and Jonathan couldn't help but glance at each other when Ryan said this last part.

Lex couldn't help but press out of curiosity. “you said you wished for him to save you... save you from what, exactly?”

“Um, I don't remember.” Ryan lied. He then put on an act of acting really tired. “I'm really tired.... do you mind if I sleep now?”

with that, he rushed upstairs towards Clark's bedroom, since Clark had offered earlier to give up his bedroom for the night and sleep on the sofa.

Lex frowned at this and turned to face Clark and his parents. “You all know that Ryan is obviously lying about not remembering anything, right? I mean, he had all the signs of lying... plus it's kind of weird that he would remember loving Warrior Angel but not anything else.”

Jonathan nodded. “Yeah, I did notice this too... but it might be due to being abused and not wanting to go back to his abusers? After all, if the police found out who his parents were, he might have to go back to them.”

Lex nodded at this, while Martha just sighed.

She shook her head. “I can't get over it... the fact that there are people out there who would harm their own children. Meanwhile there's plenty of couples out there who's trying so hard for a child of their own....”

Jonathan walked over to give his wife an comforting hug. “Some people just don't know what a good thing they had, and often take it for granted. Life can be so unfair that way.”

Martha then thought about how she would like to keep Ryan here, and sighed again. But would Jonathan even go for it? Would Clark and Lex be okay with her taking in another boy?

Really, she was starting to think that she had a habit of taking in lost children.

Clark smiled, and told everyone. “I think I'm gonna call it a early night too. After all, with our guest here I think I may need to get up earlier than normal and do the farm work before he gets up.”

With that he headed towards the living room while others took this cue to go to their own rooms as well.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning, everyone woke up to the smell of pancakes.

Martha and Jonathan smiled as they eyed the large collection of hot pancakes and other breakfast items on the dining table.

“Well, this is a unexpected surprise.” Martha smiled, as she saw Ryan making more pancakes at the stove.

“I thought it was the least I could do after you took me in for the next few days.” Ryan smiled at the adults sweetly.

That was when Clark and Lex came into the kitchen as well, lured by the delicious smell of breakfast.

Ryan smirked to himself. Now that everyone were here, he could launch his plan to stay here as long as possible by making those people like him.

“Let's see if I can guess everyone's favorite pancake topping...” Ryan chuckled as he brought out all the toppings which he had in separate containers on top of a tray.

He stopped by Martha first, and narrowed his eyes at her. “Umm, let's see... pancakes with powered sugar on top...”

Martha blinked in amazement. She then smiled. “How did you know?”

Ryan shrugged at this. “I saw you eying it when you came in.”

Ryan then turned to face Jonathan, and started plating the older man's breakfast for him. “Judging by your looks... I would say you're not much of a pancake person. Instead, you like scrambled eggs and bacon. You like coffee with a little bit of milk and honey in it in the morning.”

Jonathan raised his eyebrows at this. “That's quite a trick you got there.”

Ryan then looked over at Lex. “You weren't much of a breakfast person before, but lately you've come to love blueberry pancakes with a lot of melted butter on top.”

He served that breakfast platter for Lex, and handed it over.

“Wow, you're right again. If I didn't know better, I'd say you were a mind-reader...” Lex chuckled. He then paused at that thought, and then narrowed his eyes at Ryan thoughtfully. Anything was possible in Smallville, after all.

Ryan didn't notice Lex narrowing his eyes at him, however, and simply moved on to Clark.

“So what do you want?” Ryan asked, as he extended his mental powers to Clark.

However, to Ryan's surprise, he couldn't read Clark at all... in fact it was kind of like touching a brick wall instead of probing the typical mind.

Clark smiled, waiting for Ryan to guess what he really liked.

However, Ryan just stared at him... “Uh, that's funny. I can't seem to pin down what you want.... don't you want anything?”

Clark took some pity on Ryan, and just said, “Uh, I'll just have some pancakes.”

Lex smirked. Maybe Ryan wasn't a mind reader after all... he just had a very good guessing ability. “It's okay, Ryan. You can't win them all.”

Ryan just chuckled weakly at this.

“You know what I can't figure out?” Jonathan were saying to Ryan, as he shoveled some eggs into his mouth, “I can't figure out what a young boy were doing out on the roads by himself around 9pm at night?”

“Um, I don't know what you mean by that.” Ryan said uneasily. “I don't remember.”

Ryan then pretended to be busy with his food.... and then his head snapped up when he heard a single stray thought.

“I'm not hiding anything!” Ryan cried out, as he stood up to run outside.

As Ryan ran out, Clark called out after him. “Nobody said anything like that?”

Clark then looked at the others with a puzzled expression on his face. Lex simply raised his eyebrows in response, while Jonathan and Martha just shrugged as to silently say that they didn't know what set Ryan off like that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lex finished his breakfast in silence, and had volunteered to clean up everything while Clark and the Kents went to check up on Ryan.

It took him a while as seeing there was a lot of dishes to clean, but he managed to finish the whole task by himself without breaking anything. He felt kind of proud of himself for doing something like this.... He just felt more grown-up this way.

However, his good mood vanished when he went outside only to overhear the Kents. The Kent couple were talking as they watched Ryan and Clark play basketball together, so Lex knew right away who they were talking about.

“Jonathan... did you ever wonder if we made a mistake not adopting another child for Clark to play with?” Martha wondered. “Maybe Clark would had an easier time if he had a little brother to play with and confide in.”

Jonathan smiled at this. “We did our best at the time. I'm guessing you're bringing this up because of Ryan?”

Martha chuckled weakly. “I do seem to have a bad habit of bringing in strays, don't I?”

Jonathan continued to smile, and pulled Martha in for a hug. “Well, that's just one of the things I love about you. You have such a big heart that there's room for everyone in there. besides, the last stray we took in worked out very well, didn't it? Clark was the best thing that happened to us.”

Martha smiled back, and leaned up to kiss Jonathan.

Lex silently moved back into the house, and he then rushed towards his guest room. He didn't know what to think right now... all he felt was overwhelming jealousy. He jumped into his bed, and started burying his head into his pillow as to resist the urge to scream or throw a fit.

Lex was supposed to be a part of this family now, not Ryan! Granted, they weren't able to make it official due to the fact that Lionel Luthor was still his father, but still.

Did that mean that they only wanted a cute little boy... not Lex? Lex sat up and looked at himself in the full-body mirror. He certainly weren't a cute little boy anymore. Even though he was technically a 9-year-old boy according to legal documents, he now looked like an full grown adult man.

So that meant that Lex couldn't be the cute little brother that the Kents wanted for Clark anymore.

Lex had enjoyed looking more grown up, and being treated like an adult by the Smallville citizens. In fact the month he spent here at the Kent Farm was the best time he ever had in his whole life.  
but now he couldn't help but wish that he could go back to being a normal little boy again. Then maybe the Kents wouldn't even think about taking in Ryan the same way they did for Lex.

After all... the Kent family were supposed to belong to Lex, not some intruder like Ryan! Lex refused to tolerate this kind of thing... he wouldn't let them be taken away from him. What if the Kents decided that he was better off living in that Mansion with all the doctors again? What if they decided that Ryan were better than Lex?

Lex then laid back on his bed, and started plotting. He had to go about this very carefully... because if he acted like an overly-possessive boy in front of the Kents this could back-fire on him.

He had to figure out a way to make Ryan look bad in front of the Kents, so that they would rethink their idea about taking Ryan in....


	9. Chapter nine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this is kind of like a filler episode... but stuff happens to help set up for the story next episode.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this is kind of like a filler episode... but stuff happens to help set up for the story next episode. Originally this was meant to be a chapter focusing on Ryan and how Lex dealt with his jealousy at Ryan getting so close to Clark. But the story kind of got out of my control because there was all those characters doing stuff in the background. And well, if I had cut out the character background stuff then much of the next chapter might not have made sense at all.  
>  But next chapter will have a lot of Ryan stuff!

Whitney sighed contentedly as he stepped out of the locker room showers that he was sharing with the other football players. He wrapped an white towel around his waist and headed towards his locker. He couldn't help but wince a little as his muscles protested.

It seemed as if his entire body was a bundle of sore and bruised muscles.... but that wasn't that surprising at all, considering what he had to put up with this month.

Whitney was the captain of the football, and that came with a fair amount of responsibility...he basically had to cooperate with the coach and come up with good plays, and basically keep all of the football players in line so that they wouldn't make the entire team look bad.  
He was also in charge of practice when the coach wasn't around. He actually had to do that a lot ever since their previous coach became a crazy arsonist and got caught a while back. 

They managed to find a good replacement for their last coach finally, so now Whitney didn't have to shoulder all of the burden.

And now this year had thrown an unexpected curve-ball his way... namely, his terminally ill father.

It was bad enough knowing that his father was dying and that there was nothing the family could do about it. But, the news about his father's health had been so unexpected that it had caught everyone off guard. As an result, they didn't really have any plans for who would run the hardware store while his father was at the hospital.  
Whitney’s father didn't really have staff running the store at all. It had been mostly his father who ran the entire place by himself, and his mother had no experience running the place. That was mainly due to the fact that Whitney's father was the old-fashioned sort who believed that a woman's place was at home and not in a store.  
So, It was basically up to Whitney to run the entire store by himself now. After all, it's not like they could actually afford to pay somebody to run the store for them.

Heck, his family had already taken a financial hit when Whitney broke his jaw during that hostage situation at the crap factory months ago. It was amazing how expensive the hospital bills could be even for a broken jaw.

Honestly, It was just too much for a 17-year-old boy to tackle by himself.... and Whitney couldn't help but feel like he was rapidly aging from all the stress and the pressure. He wouldn't be surprised if he ended up having an heart attack or something crazy like that.

He hadn't told any of his friends yet, but he was seriously considering quitting the football team so that he could focus on running the store. After all, Lana had done something similar and it looked like she was doing great running that coffee shop.... so why couldn't he do the same thing too?

He might even need to drop out of high school for a while, to keep the store open and make up for the loss in sales that they suffered while he was in school.

Whitney toweled himself off as he thought about that plan. He sighed quietly, because he didn't really want to go though with that plan no matter how good it sounded.

Ever since he was ten years old, football had been his entire life. He made all of his friends though playing football, and he also had this dream of becoming a famous football player. In fact it was such a critical part of his identity, that the idea of giving it up just like that, was frightening to him.

But reality was knocking on his door... and forcing him to give up that part of himself. He literally had no choice in this matter... it was that or let his entire family become starving poor people.

Whitney quickly got dressed, and waved good bye to his friends as he went out the door.

To his surprise, Lana had been waiting outside the locker room... and walked up to him soon as she saw that he was done with practice.

Whitney couldn't help but mentally groan soon as he saw her. A part of him couldn't help but feel guilty for neglecting his girlfriend lately. But it couldn't be helped. After all, keeping his own family afloat and debt-free was so much more important than hanging out with his girlfriend... right?

“Do you have some free time? I have something I need to tell you...” Lana wondered, as she stared up at him with wide, nervous eyes.

Whitney wondered what was up to make Lana look so nervous. He replied, “I need to go to class now, but I'll hang out with you during lunch break. How's that?”

Lana simply nodded at this.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Clark and Lex was giving Ryan a guided tour of Smallville High School as they walked though the halls.

“See that door there? That's the classroom where Lex and I usually take chemistry.” Clark was saying.

Lex smiled up at Clark and then looked at Ryan. He then remarked, “It's one of my favorite classes, because you get to mix chemicals together and see what happens. It's fun.”

Ryan was looking around, looking slightly awestruck and envious at the same time. “It must be so nice to go to school... I never get to..”

He suddenly realized that what he was saying might give away the fact that he actually didn't lose his memories at all. So in an desperate attempt to cover up, He then added: “Well, I don't really remember going to school so I guess it feels like I never got to go to school.”

Clark and Lex exchanged looks over this, because their suspicions that Ryan was lying about not remembering, were basically confirmed.

Lex then causally replied to Ryan like he didn't say anything strange. “Or you were home-schooled so as an result this kind of atmosphere doesn't feel familiar to you. I have to say, I know that feeling myself. I went to a boarding school for a brief time, but then ended up home-schooling for most of my childhood. So it does feel different going back to school for the first time...”

Ryan looked at Lex with an interested expression. “You went to a boarding school for real? I've only heard about them in movies... mostly horror ones though, where all the teachers were evil and stuff. What was it like for you?”

Lex chuckled, assuming that he knew which movies Ryan had seen. After all, there was only so many horror movies about boarding schools. And surprisingly enough his father actually had let him watch those movies when he was younger.. right when he was only six years old. Which of course led to so many nightmares about his own school, Excelsior, being a place of devil worship and murder. 

Strangely enough Lex couldn't help but look back at those times with a fond memory despite the nightmares he had as a 6-year-old. It had been one of the few times that his father actually treated him like an adult that was old enough to watch anything he wanted.

Lex answered, “I went to Excelsior prep, Which was basically a school for kids from rich families and stuff like that. The teachers there were mostly decent people. It was the other kids you really had to watch out for. I had my share of bullies there.... and unlike public school when you go home after school, you were basically forced to live with people who you didn't like very much. I had to share an dorm room with one of my bullies for a while there... it was terrible.”

He scowled slightly when he thought about Oliver “Ollie” Queen. Ollie had been the most intolerable, and annoying brat out of them all at Excelsior prep. Apparently the Queens didn't have a high opinion of the Luthor family at all, and so of course Ollie felt that it was perfectly okay to bully Lex as an result. Just because their parents didn't like each other very much.

Lex couldn't help but wonder where or what Oliver Queen was doing right now. He was probably an adult now... and meanwhile here's Lex, still a young kid. Life wasn't really fair at all. A part of him secretly hoped that Oliver ended up being one of the more unfortunate rich kids that often overdosed on drugs or went to jail for drunk driving. Something like that would at least make the world seem a little more fair.

Ryan raised his eyebrows at this. “Gee... that sounds terrible...”

Lex smirked. “If you had to compare all three... I would say public school is way better than boarding school and home school. Home-school's boring because you don't have any other kids to talk to or play with, and the adults can choose to end school at 7pm instead of 3pm. Boarding school, you're basically stuck with kids you don't like both day and night. But the public school seems to be a fair balance of the two... you get to socialize with kids, but you get to go home and away from people you don't like at the end of the day.”

Clark nodded at this. “Yeah, sounds about right.”

Ryan simply looked thoughtful at this.

Finally, the three boys stopped at the door of the Torch office.

“This is where Chloe and I work on the school paper....” Clark told Ryan as he opened the door.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
A few moments later, Ryan could be seen walking out with a upset look on his face.

Back in the Torch office, Chloe was frowning. She then wondered, “I don't know how Ryan knew that the boy I was talking about in the story died. It was like he read my mind...”

Clark smiled. “Well... you had it written all over your face.”

Lex smirked, and agreed with Clark. “Yeah... you would make a very bad poker player with the way you telegraph things on your face. You really need to work on that.”

Chloe shrugged at this. “Hmm, I guess so...”

Clark then moved towards the door. “I have to go after Ryan... make sure that he doesn't get into some trouble, you know.”

Both Lex and Chloe simply nodded at this.

As Clark left, Chloe looked at Lex and said: “I still think that Ryan is awfully a lot like Kaspar Hauser... the boy would often make up stories that just didn't make sense, and many often thought that he was trying to scam people.... it was one of the reasons why he met with such a unhappy end.”

Lex nodded, and he told Chloe about the conversation in the hallway. “.... so I think that means he might had been home-schooled? Maybe he just has overbearing parents that he wanted to get away from.”

Chloe frowned again. “It also means that he might have no parents... and might have run away from the foster care system, and as an result couldn't go to school otherwise they'd catch up to him.”

Lex's slight smirk faded at this. “You think such a thing can happen?”

Chloe nodded. “I've been doing a lot of research and looking into different places where Ryan could have come from, and the reason why he might not want to tell us about his past. And well, I found out some rather disturbing facts about the foster care and the orphanage system.... did you know that around 7,000 kids slip though the cracks each year? The reason why this happens can vary from the kids being so unwanted by everyone that they're considered throw-ways, or the kids running away by themselves because the foster parents were abusive, etc. So as an result that many kids can end up being homeless and trying to survive on their own instead of going back to the foster care system.”

Lex couldn't even imagine such a thing ever happening. He did have a father who often hurt his feelings and stuff, but that same father also had looked out for him in his own way. Lex had to admit that he led an pretty pampered lifestyle thanks to Lionel. 

So it was for that reason that Lex couldn't even picture a young boy like Ryan not having any actual parents to look after him at all... abusive or not. But if Ryan didn't really have anybody to watch over him at all.... 

Lex then thought back to his jealousy over Ryan and the Kents. His plan for making Ryan look bad in front of the Kents, so that Ryan would get kicked out.

Lex groaned, because he suddenly realized that he was acting like an massive spoiled asshole. He was like a kid who had more than a dozen toys, yet threw a fit because some adult gave one of his toys to somebody else who didn't have any toys. In other words, he freaked out because he didn't like to share his things with others.

Realizing that you were acting like an spoiled brat wasn't a nice feeling, especially when coupled with the realization that not everyone had it good as you did. 

Lex did have a family of his own besides the Kents...so would it be selfish of him to want to keep both the Kents and his biological family to himself?

“Hey, you alright?” Chloe asked, snapping Lex out of his thoughts.

“Oh, I'm fine... That's just I never really thought about the fact that there could be homeless kids out there.” Lex replied.

Understanding dawned on Chloe's face. She then smiled. “Sure makes you thankful for what you do have, right?”

Lex just smiled at this weakly.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, Clark had caught up with Ryan.

“Hold on, Ryan!” Clark called out as he ran up to him. “You didn't have to get so upset, it was only a story....”

Ryan smiled at Clark. It hadn't really been the reason why he had gotten upset back then. It had been the way Chloe and Lex were so curious about everything, inducing him. Their bright, intrusive minds together had been way too much for Ryan to handle at once....even with Clark as an buffer.

So, he had to get out of there before their minds overwhelmed him.

It wasn't something he wanted to talk about though... so he decided to change the topic. “She likes you very much, you know.”

“Who, Chloe?” Clark chuckled bashfully. “Well... we've been together for a few weeks now. Sort of.”

“She wants you to ask her out to the prom.” Ryan told him.

Clark chuckled again. “Okay, you don't know Chloe like I do. And I have to tell you, she's not the prom type at all. In fact she likes to mock that kind of thing....”

Ryan looked skeptical. “Really? Because she already picked out a pink dress and everything.”

Clark blinked at this. “Okay.... and you know this how? Chloe hasn't even said anything to me...”

“She was planning to--” Ryan said, but he was interrupted when Lex exited the Torch office.

“Hey, Clark. Chloe said that she needed to do some more research, so I guess it's just us guys again.” Lex told Clark, “So I guess that means we get to continue the rest of our tour though school before our classes start.”

Clark simply nodded at this. Lex walked over to Ryan and smiled. “Come on, let's go.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was now lunch time, and Whitney walked over to Lana's table with his food tray.

He sat down next to Lana, and started opening his small carton of milk. “So what was it that you wanted to talk to me about?”

Lana fidgeted. “Um, remember those weird flowers that made everyone in school go crazy and made them do things that they normally wouldn't do?”

Whitney stiffened at this.

Damn it, why did Lana want to talk about it? Didn't she understand how he felt about that day?

Whitney had been humiliated over the fact that he actually had sex with Lana in such a public setting like the school hallway. On top of it, the whole thing had been out of his control, and he didn't remember what happened.... he knew what happened only because he saw the video and photos floating around. In a way, he actually felt like he was raped that day. Even though he knew that Lana had been just as out of control like he was, and weren't to blame.

He supposed it was one of the reasons why he had stopped hanging out with Lana. He had to get over it first before he could deal being around with Lana and her need to talk about what happened.

Lana didn't notice Whitney's reaction, and continued: “I hate to tell you this, but... we weren't using any protection or birth control at that time... and well...”

Whitney's head swiveled around towards Lana and he just stared at her. “You're telling me that we're about to have a baby?? One that the two of us doesn't even remember making?”

Lana looked down at her food, her lips trembling slightly. She nodded, before looking up with her dewy green eyes.

“Fuck!” Whitney cursed under his breath. This was really the last thing he needed... there was no way he could support Lana and her baby with his current financial situation. And he already had enough on his plate as it was.

“Lana... you can't have that baby. We need to abort it.” Whitney found himself saying.

Lana stared back at her boyfriend with a shocked expression on her face. She then finally said, “I'm sorry, but I can't do that. I'm just not that kind of girl who would get an abortion... it's just wrong.”

Whitney sighed. Of course Lana would think it was wrong. She was the ultimate small-town princess who had been raised with conservative values... and completely ready to judge others for not adhering to her ideals.

“Well, how can you manage to take care of it and have a normal life at the same time?” Whitney tried to reason with Lana, “Between the two of us I doubt we would be able to afford to take care of a baby!”

Lana's expression hardened at this. “You don't need to worry about that. I'm not asking you to give me support money. Besides, I've been saving up money long before this happened... I was actually planning to live in Paris for a few months when I got out of high school. So I have quite the nest egg stored up which I can use for the baby. I probably will never get to go to Paris now, but I can afford to take care of the baby on my own.”

Lana then stood up, taking her food tray with her. She then added in a rather cold tone of voice, “You don't even need to be in the baby's life if you don't want to. I simply thought that you needed to know that you were going to be a father.”

With that she walked away before Whitney could even respond.

Whitney sighed again, and then looked down at his food. “Shit.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was now after school. Lex was hanging out with both Chloe and Clark in the middle of a road for some reason.

“What are we doing here?” Lex wondered, and Chloe turned to face him.

“Well, we're going to look for clues as to where Ryan came from..” Chloe replied. “he might had dropped something when he accidentally got ran over by Mrs.Kent.”

Lex simply nodded. That made sense, after all. 

With that, the three of them spread out to look for anything out of the ordinary. After a while Clark found something on the side of the road.

Namely the following items: Ryan's missing shoe, some candy, one comic book and a photo that must had spilled out of Ryan's bag when he was running across the road.

Chloe took the photo from Clark, and looked at it. It was a picture of a happy-looking Ryan with a dark-haired woman who was obviously his mother. “I guess this is a picture of his mother..”

Lex took the candy and comic book, and said that he would be waiting in Chloe's car. 

Clark simply nodded. As Lex walked away, Clark moved closer to Chloe.

“Ryan said something strange to me today...” Clark said. Chloe turned to look at Clark with an interested expression.

“Em, well... he said that you wanted me to ask you out to the prom, and that you even picked out a pink dress.” He told her.

Chloe's eyes widened at this, and she blinked rapidly at this. “How did he know that? I didn't tell him anything like that....”

Clark's eyebrows rose at this. “You mean it was true? I wasn't sure if I should believe him or not.”

Chloe fidgeted slightly. “Well, I meant to bring up the topic with you. I was going to tell you at the Talon, but there was Lana's pregnancy thing...”

“Oh.” Clark didn't know what to say to that.

Chloe looked up at Clark. “Clark, I've been thinking. I don't want to be some kind of pretend girlfriend that you're practicing your dating skills with. I want you to treat it like the real thing. In other words...” She sighed. “I want us to be dating for real. And I want you to take me to the dance.”

Clark nodded, and smiled. “Alright. I was wondering if you were okay with things being real or not for the past few weeks anyway. Actually, I really enjoyed being your pretend boyfriend... and I certainly wouldn't mind this becoming real. But I was kind of scared to bring it up... because you've been such a great friend and I didn't want to lose your friendship.”

Chloe's expression brightened at this. “Really? So all this time, we both wanted this to be real... but were too scared to admit it.” She chuckled softly.

“Looks like Ryan got us to confess our feelings to each other. Who knows what we would have done otherwise.” Clark chuckled as well.

Chloe moved closer to Clark, and wrapped her arms around Clark's shoulders. “So, Clark... will you go to the prom with me?”

Clark grinned. “Yes, of course!”

With that they kissed.

Back in Chloe's car, Lex was snacking on the candy and reading though the warrior angel comic book. When he looked up from Ryan's comic book to see Clark and Chloe kissing, he couldn't help but make a face.

Lex rolled his eyes, and muttered something about how the two of them should get a room, and went back to reading the comic book. He tried his best to ignore the jealous feeling he had.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Clark and Lex returned to the Kent farm, they would discover that they had unexpected visitors waiting for them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Clark Kent was planning to do his homework once he returned home, and then realized that he had left his school books up in his barn loft. So he told Lex to go into the house while he grabbed his stuff.

He was surprised to find out that Lana Lang was up in his barn loft waiting for him.

“Lana? What are you doing here?” Clark said as he climbed the stairs to his loft.

Lana smiled when she saw Clark come up.... like she had been expecting to see him. “I just had to get away from my personal problems for a while. I'm sure you understand.” She answered.

Clark simply nodded awkwardly, as he looked around for his school books. He looked like he wanted to inquire about Lana's pregnancy, but were too afraid to ask out of the fear that it might be rude.

So Lana stood up to face Clark, her expression suddenly turning sad. She looked up at Clark with large, dewy eyes and trembling lips. She then said, “I got around to telling Whitney about the pregnancy... he didn't take it very well at all.”

“Oh... I'm sorry.” Clark sounded sympathetic, although he didn't know what else he could say here. After all, it was like Pete had said before... Whitney was obviously going though a lot having to juggle school and having to run the store while his father was sick. Clark didn't even know if he could hold up as well as Whitney did, if Jonathan Kent ever became terminally ill. A baby would be additional stress in such a situation, even if it was supposed to be a blessing.

Lana looked as if she was about to cry as she started speaking again. “He actually asked me to get an abortion, even though he knew I didn't believe in doing that sort of thing. It's just against my moral code, you know?”

Clark's eyebrows rose at this. He then tried to offer Lana with a possible explanation for Whitney's behavior. “Um, wow. I don't even know what to say to that. He probably didn't mean it... he most likely just panicked in the heat of the moment? Guys can be really dumb that way... I should know, I'm one myself. God knows how many times I kicked myself for overreacting to something small and trivial.”

Lana smiled wryly at the last part of Clark's statement, and asked: “Speaking hypothetically... If the child I carried was yours, how would you react when you found out? Would you ask me to abort it too?”

Clark blinked at the unexpected question. “Umm... I don't think so. But my reaction still might be negative at first, depending on the situation... after all, there's good and bad times to be pregnant, you know? But I would still love the baby regardless of the situation.”

Lana looked at Clark quizzically, as if she didn't understand at all. Clark then went on to explain himself. “Well, for instance... If I was in Whitney's situation, I might not react too well neither. I mean, think about it... from what I hear he has a terminally ill father who might die any day now. and on top of it he has to juggle schoolwork and work at the family store. It's a pretty shitty year for Whitney... I actually feel bad for him.”

To Clark's surprise, Lana actually looked upset at this. Lana stood up as she said, “I can't believe this. You're taking Whitney's side over mine? Can't you understand how upsetting this is to me? I've suffered a lot too!”

“What?” Clark looked confused as he tried to calm down Lana, “No, I'm not taking anybody's side at all. Remember I said that Whitney was probably just panicking and said something he didn't mean? And I simply said I could see where Whitney was coming from, for him to have reacted so negatively to the fact that you were having a baby. He'll probably come to love the baby once he calms down.”

“Well, can't you see things from my point of view?” Lana demanded to know, as her lips started trembling again. “My first time was supposed to be special and romantic, with somebody I was going to marry one day. Instead, some bizarre flower drugs me and makes me do things I would never normally do in such a public place. And now I'm a unwed pregnant teenage girl! What must the town think of me?”

Clark nodded. “Yeah, that's pretty terrible too... I wouldn't want to be in that situation neither. It seems to be a pretty bad time for the two of you.”

That reaction from Clark didn't seem to be what what Lana wanted at all. She frowned slightly, and in a split second made the decision to walk closer to Clark. She pressed up against Clark, and wrapped her arms around his body. She then looked up at him with watery doe eyes.

Clark blinked, at the sudden shift in tone. But Lana probably just wanted to be comforted, right?  
So he just hugged her back in a way like somebody might hug their mother or sister.

Clark couldn't help but think that life could be funny sometimes. Just an year ago, he would had killed to hold Lana like this right now. But now... it was like he didn't even want her anymore. He didn't know if it was the fact that he was dating Chloe and actually enjoying being in a relationship with somebody who returned his affections. Or if it was the fact that he would feel guilty for making a move on Lana when she was now pregnant with Whitney's child. Maybe it was both.

Before, it had been different when Whitney and Lana was merely boyfriend and girlfriend who had their share of relationship drama. They had often looked like they were on the verge of a break-up... so that often gave Clark a lot of hope that Lana would break up with Whitney for good, and start dating him.

But now that Lana was with child, that meant that she was practically married to Whitney. So now it just didn't feel right to be lusting after Lana like this anymore. He knew this was a very old-fashioned viewpoint and that in the modern world such logic did not apply anymore. But he couldn't help it... he was raised in a conservative small town after all.

Lana frowned when she noticed the lackluster way that Clark hugged her, as if his mind was elsewhere. She sighed. 

This hadn't been going the way she wanted it to. Clark was supposed to take her side completely and not sympathize with Whitney! He was supposed to comfort her, and maybe even flirt with her while she pretended not to notice his flirting. You know, like the lovestruck boy he always had been. Clark always had been a very nice “backup” that she could go to in order to vent her feelings, whenever Whitney had done something that disappointed her. Clark was the kind of boy who too nice to assume that she might be leading him on, so Lana didn't really need to worry about her reputation being ruined by him.

But Chloe just had to go and ruin that didn't she? That blonde girl never really respected the fact that Clark belonged to Lana, even if she was still dating Whitney. At least, it was supposed to be like that. And now Chloe and Clark were acting like newlyweds together. It was sickening!

She withdrew from Clark's arms, and turned to leave. “I should be going now.” Lana said despondently. Clark simply nodded.

“I hope you and Whitney work it out.” Clark replied, as Lana headed down the stairs. Lana just wordlessly nodded her head, and left.

Clark frowned, as he looked around the barn loft. He had came up here for some reason... he just couldn't remember what it was that he was looking for.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Meanwhile, Lex got a surprise visitor of his own inside the yellow house.

Lex paused when he saw the Kents and his father Lionel sitting at the kitchen table. Both Martha and Jonathan had strained smiles on their faces, like they were trying their damnedest best to be polite to Lionel Luthor even though they didn't want to be.

All three of them had cups of what Lex assumed was coffee, which meant that Lionel had been here talking with the Kents for a while.

Yeah, that certainly explained why Martha and Jonathan seemed so strained... Lionel must be playing on their last nerves by now.

“Dad! What are you doing here?” Lex wondered, as he hung up his jacket.

“Well, I haven't seen you in weeks... I thought it was about time that I personally checked up on you.” Lionel Luthor replied.

Jonathan just snorted at this. Martha slapped Jonathan on the arm, as telling him to stay quiet.

Lionel Luthor took this time to visually inspect his son, and he frowned when he realized that Lex had gone though yet another growth spurt.

Lex now looked the age he would be right now, had he not gone into an coma all those years ago during the meteor shower. 

Lionel was still wondering to himself about Lex's strange condition. Did Lex's condition have him stop aging once he reached his biological age, or would he continue to age rapidly? The scientists on his payroll still hadn't been able to crack that particular mystery, and so Lionel couldn't help but want his son back so that they would be able to study Lex some more.

His scientists did suggest however, that what Lex had gone though was a strange type of suspended animation, instead of being trapped in some kind of “age bubble” like they had originally thought.  
To be honest that hadn't pleased Lionel at all...because he had honestly thought that they had the key to immortality. But maybe he still did, if his scientists could manage to unlock the mystery of how Lex's rapid aging worked. They could find a way to reverse that, thus discovering eternal youth.

Lionel's brief daydream about eternal youth was cut short by his son's voice.

“Alright. As you can see, I'm doing very well. In fact I'm growing stronger by the day.... would you like to see?” Lex Luthor replied, as he rolled up his sleeves. He then showed off the muscles that he had gained doing the farm chores around here.

Lionel frowned. This kind of development was indeed very impressive, but how did his son come by those muscles? Far as he knew, growth spurts did not spontaneously give you a well-defined body no matter how many teenage boys wished for that.

“Very impressive. Have you been working out?” He asked his son.

Lex couldn't help but grin at his father's compliment, and then he answered, “Well, kind of. I've been helping out around the farm... and that's a real workout in itself.”

“Helping out?” Lionel narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean by that?”

So Lex told him about how he learned how to pick up the eggs from the chickens, and how he had been helping clean the barn by shoveling out the manure.

Lionel Luthor couldn't help but look like he had been sucking on a very sour lemon by the time Lex was done talking about his time at the farm. He spun around to face the Kents, and snarled, “You've been using my son as farm labor? How dare you!”

“It's not like that, I offered to help out—” Lex tried to interrupt his father, but Lionel wouldn't have any of that at all.

“Stay quiet, Lex! This is a serious adult matter. So stay out of this!” Lionel kept on growling, as his attention was now focused on Jonathan.

Jonathan looked to be just as sour-faced as Lionel now, and he couldn't help but make an sarcastic quip. “What's the matter? Can't stand the thought of a Luthor actually doing some honest work around here?”

“Don't you know that it's against the laws to use children for hard labor? I wonder what the sheriff would say if he learned of this?” Lionel replied.

Jonathan laughed at this. “I doubt that helping gather eggs would be considered hard labor. Sure it can get a little gross and messy at times... but that's life on a farm. Besides, as Lex here offered to help out.... we didn't make him do anything against his will.”

Lionel glanced at his son, and Lex simply nodded in agreement with Jonathan's words.

Lionel frowned. He looked like he wanted to protest this some more, but instead he turned to face Lex. “You won't be staying here very long anyway. I've arranged for you and Lucas to meet with a family therapist so that the two of you can work out your issues. Then you'll finally be back home where you belong!”

With that, Lionel stormed out of the house. At the same time, Lana Lang was leaving the barn. The two of them glanced at each other, wondering what the other one was doing here. But they didn't say anything to each other, and simply acknowledged each other with a nod of their heads.  
Lana mounted her horse, as Lionel got into his Limo car. The two of them left the scene with a upset expression on their faces.


End file.
